


Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc: Biweekly Killing AU

by sans8642



Category: Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Chance of Accidental Out of Character Moments, Other, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2019-07-26 00:51:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 84,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16209245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sans8642/pseuds/sans8642
Summary: A killing game has begun and everyone's going to die in two weeks anyway! However, Monokuma gave Makoto Naegi a chance to get closer to one of the other students, so he chooses Chihiro Fujisaki. With these two changes how does this change everything else up? Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc Alternate AU.  Also Spoilers for the main game will be taken out of the tags.*Also the name change is because this is not linked to the game Fortnite, I can't believe I didn't even notice the similarities when I started this, but that's my punishment for being a dolt I guess*





	1. Day 1: Dawn of the first Killing Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, so this is my first attempt at something like this, so it's highly likely not going to be great. I had the idea for this for a few months so I'm glad I got to finally make it. This thing is somewhat inspired by the Distrust thing, although I've chosen to put my own spin on it. I hope you enjoy the first day. Also I suck with titles, if you can suggest better, please do.

Hope's Peak Academy. This high school was one of the most, if not the most well-known high school in the world. It's said if you can go there you'd be set for life. However only the best of the best can go there, you must be scouted to go, and a lot of the people that go there are pretty much celebrities anyway. The academy was 5 stories high and towered over everything in the area. The building was a brick colour, with stunning blue glass and at the top of the building, the logo for the school stood proud, as if it knew it was as important as it was. The outside section was amazing as well, having a running track the same size that people run on in the Olympics and the ability to pretty much do any sport you can think off thanks to the huge grass field and the 30-meter sand pit. So that begs the question, why am I standing outside the school, preparing myself to head inside for once and for all? 

My name is Makoto Naegi and I am entirely average. I'm slightly short for my age, I barely managed to pass my exams and my hair is always a mess. I guess I am a little bit more optimistic than most, but as for positive qualities that is about it. I was simply lucky as I won the lottery to be accepted into Hope Peak's main school. At first, I wasn't sure if I should go but everyone I knew wanted me to go so I can't let them down. Honestly, I got here over an hour earlier than I was supposed to, and the 5-meter gates still haven't been opened yet, if I wasn't going to this school, people would mistake me for a crazed fanboy or something. Finally, the gates opened and I'm going inside. Every step gives me a lot of things to think about. What are the classes going to be like? What will my final exam be about? Will I be liked by everyone, or will they hold me in contempt? But all these questions, didn't seem to matter at the end of the day, because I had hope. It seems silly, but whenever I hope something turns out okay, it usually does. Maybe I truly am the Ultimate Lucky Student and I just don't realize it.

After what felt like an entirety, I finally made it to the school. The room has a white floor, ceiling and walls, if it was green, it would be an effective greenroom. The time is 7:00am, as shown by the clock in the middle of the room. The main hall won't be open yet, will it? 

Suddenly my vision goes all funky. Colours appearing everywhere and swirling in all different types of patterns, indescribable to the human eye... It's hard to think, was... I drugged...?

As I woke up all I could feel was my head pounding and that was all I could feel for a while. I'm sat a table I think, but I've never fallen asleep at the table and had that happen to me, is this what Hope Peak does to people that sleep in class? 

Makoto (dozy): W-Where...?

The room I am currently in is the biggest change in moods I think I've ever seen. While the other room stunned me with its bright white colours, this room stunned me because of how dark it ended up being. All the windows were boarded up, the blackboard has random scribbles on it, and all the chairs, while sorted out in a nice way, where surprisingly dirty. All I could really focus on was my pounding headache.

Makoto (Pondering): I'm in Hope's Peak right? I should look around before answering that question.

I got up and went outside. The hallways had a lot of purple in theme, when I turned to my right, the first thing that caught my eye was the hallway heading towards the red room, however despite my best attempt it wouldn't open at all, I turned around and saw a room blocked off with bars, that had a sign saying, "Despair Hotel". Walking down the hall, I saw an AV Room which also didn't want to open, and then there was a room with huge doors, that was open, so I headed inside.

As I walked in, a boy wearing a white uniform, fully buttoned up to the collar and with spiky yet neat black, almost blue hair and his most noticeable eyebrows started yelling at me... what luck

??? (Annoyed): Lateness is not welcome in Hope's Peak! We are the top students in the country, we cannot stoop so low as to be late on the first day!

However, I was quickly defended by a tan girl, her hair was brown and in a huge ponytail somehow hovering above her head, she wore some shorts, a red training jacket and a white shirt, although I was unable to tell if it was a T-shirt or not thanks to her jacket.

??? (Annoyed): It's not like he wanted to be late you know! We were all knocked out when we came into this stupid building anyway, he might have been exposed to more of the drug or something!

The tan girl's remark made the other boy look down at his own feet in shame as he spoke once again.

??? (Somber): It seems I made a misjudgment in my words, I must ask for your forgiveness fellow student!

Makoto (Confused): It's fine. You didn't know. However, should we introduce ourselves now that I'm here. I didn't see anyone else in the classrooms and there seems to be a lot of us here, so there's a high chance that I'm the last student.

??? (Happy): That would be a great idea! I am the Ultimate Moral Compass Kiyotaka Ishimaru. It is my dream to create a world where hard work will prevail over anything else! I hope we can be good friends!

Kiyotaka had a huge smile on his face as he said this, which seemed to be emulated by the tan girl who introduced herself.

??? (Happy): My name's Aoi Asahina the Ultimate Swimming Pro! Just call me Hina for short, don't eat all the donuts and I'm certain we'll get along really well!

The happy moods created by Hina and Kiyotaka were short lived though, as a tall boy wearing a dark green top and trousers, with a light green bow with a white shirt underneath, his hair was short and blond, and he wore glasses.

??? (Annoyed): Hmph, took us long enough to finally get onto this. All of you had better listen up, since I'm only going to say this once for you commoners. I am Byakuya Togami, the Ultimate Affluent Progeny. You will do well to remember that name.

Then a boy with spiky orange hair spoke up, he had a goatee strangely enough, and he had a piercing just below his mouth, and his right ear was full of piercings. He has a neckless with a cube like thing on it. His shirt has a skull design on it but was mostly white, as his jacket was. He was wearing a belt around his waist; however, it wasn't used to keep his trousers up as another belt, one with a buckle was on his black trousers. His design was odd to say the least.

??? (Relaxed): Come on man, why you are being such a downer. Whatever, I'm Leon Kuwata, I'm technically the Ultimate Baseball Star, but I hate Baseball, so I was thinking about becoming the Ultimate Musician instead, that's way better than being a stupid Baseball player!

Byakuya (Annoyed): Hmph, so the one thing you have that makes you even a fraction as impressive as me you want to throw away, some people are clearly deluded.

Leon (Annoyed): What's that supposed to mean! If I can get though Baseball without trying, then if I try at music then I should ace it easily.

Before it got worse, a huge person that had long white hair and a scar running down her face and, on her shoulder, and she had huge muscles. The only reason why I knew she was a girl was because she wore a traditional sailor outfit sans the arms which were not there likely due to her muscles, otherwise it would be easy to mistake her for a man.

??? (Calm): Enough, there is no reason for us to fight right now. I am Sakura Ogami, the Ultimate Martial Artist. It is nice to meet you all.

Almost immediately after this another Girl introduced themselves. She had hair that was insanely long and seemed to spin around endlessly. She had skin that was almost pure white which was a stark contrast to everything else about herself, her dress was a black Lolita, although she had a red tie and a white ribbon.

??? (Calm): It appears I am not the only one with common sense around here. My name is Celestia Ludenberg, the Ultimate Gambler, although you may just call me Celeste, if that is easier for you all to pronounce. 

A tall boy with darkish skin with hair that is almost indescribable, who was wearing a black jacket hanging loosely from his shoulders, a white jacket underneath that and an orange-brown shirt under that and some baggy black trousers. 

??? (Calm): Heh, I'm Yasuhiro Hagakure, the Ultimate Clairvoyant, nice to meet ya.

??? (Frightened): I b-bet you're just saying it's nice to meet ya because you want to attack us or something!

A purple haired girl, with a purple Japanese school uniform with the addition of a red tie and hair that was in two long braids, pointed timidly at the Clairvoyant.

Yasuhiro (Confused): WOAH! I may be slightly older than everyone here, but that doesn't mean I'll sink so low as to attack anyone!

??? (Frightened): I-I knew it, you'r-

Byakuya (Annoyed): Shut up and give out your name and Ultimate title.

The purple haired girl was shocked at this, but complied anyway.

??? (Annoyed): ... F-fine, my name Toko Fukawa, the U-Ultimate Writing Prodigy, not that anyone cares.

The next person to speak was a girl with long blue hair, also wearing a traditional sailor outfit, this time blue with a pink tie, she also had a blush permanently stuck to her face and eyeliner to go with it.

??? (Chuckling): Of course, we care Toko! Anyway, my name is Sayaka Maizono, the Ultimate Pop Sensation! Nice to meet you all, although I don't think I can say that about everyone.  
Does she mean me? I mean we did go to the same middle school and all, but she can't have recognized me, right?

??? (Happily): Yeah, totes! My name's Junko Enoshima, Ultimate Fashionista.

While Junko may of been oblivious to it, Toko wasn't convinced that she was cared about but Junko was a person definitely deserving of her title, as her frame was very hourglass like, and her hair was in two pigtails and she had cute little bunnies as hair clips, her dress style was mainly black, but she also had a very short red skirt, a red bow and a black and red tie. 

The next person to speak had a very odd design to say the least. He was clearly overweight, and his face looked like an animal, his hair was short and black, and he had an orange backpack. His shirt was white, and he had a grey cardigan, however his most noticeable aspect was his tiny legs, that somehow managed to keep his body up.

??? (Pleased): Ahh, so I'm going to be going to classes with all these wonderful ladies and gentlemen, we I suppose this is just like-

Byakuya (Annoyed): I can already see where this is going, I would suggest you keep quiet and do what everyone else has done... Or else you will feel the wrath of the Togami family.

??? (Scared): EEK! OK OK, I'm Hifumi Yamada and I'm the Ultimate Fanfic Creator!

??? (Calm): Hey, I'm Mondo Owada, the Ultimate Gang Leader

The person that spoke right after Hifumi was almost the complete opposite in his appearance. He had a dark-brown pompadour, was very buff and wore an overcoat with a symbol of the Crazy Diamonds, the biggest biker gang in the country. He also had a white shirt and baggy black pants.

After that, there was almost a minute of silence, I was too embarrassed about my Ultimate talent to go anything but last, and another two girls seemingly didn't want to talk much either. One of them was a girl with lavender hair, who had it down, although it was accompanied by a black bow, she wore a purple jacket, a black skirt, big purple boots and a brown tie. She also had some black gloves.  
Meanwhile the other girl was very short, even shorter than me in fact. She had short light brown hair and wore a dark green jacket and underneath was a white shirt. In addition, she had a big dark green bow and she wore a big poofy brown skirt. 

??? (Calm): Since none of us are going to talk, my name is Kyoko Kirigiri.

Byakuya (Annoyed): And what about your talent?

Kyoko (Calm): What about it?

Byakuya (Annoyed): Everyone so far has given their name and talent to prove that they belong here, so if you can't be bothered to do something as simple as that, then you should not be here, so out with it, or else I will show you why no one should mess with a Togami.

Kyoko (Calm): It doesn't matter.

Byakuya (Seething): What do you mean it doesn't matter, our talents are what keep us above the commoners so out with it or-

??? (Scared): STOP!

Everyone turned and looked at the only female that had not introduced herself yet. She was clearly uncomfortable with the situation and almost looked like she was about to burst into tears.

??? (Tearing up): Please, if she's not conformable with it, there's no need to pressure her into doing it, so please, I want us to just get along. But I should introduce myself to change the topic, my name is Chihiro Fujisaki and I'm the Ultimate Programmer. I just want to get along with everyone, we're all good people, right? So, there's no need for fighting.

After Chihiro's introduction, it was my turn. I was a boy wearing a green hoodie, a black jacket and some grey trousers, nothing unusual about my look and the only noticeable thing about me was my ahoge, that never seemed to come out, so I just left it in there.

Makoto (Happy): I agree with that! My name is Makoto Naegi and my Ultimate Talent is... (Disappointed) Luck. I don't even know why I'm here to be honest, I just won the lottery and here I am.

Yasuhiro (Happily): Come on man, don't be like that! Listen, fate has you here for a reason, so even if you don't feel like you belong here, you certainly do!

Aoi (Happily): Yeah! It doesn't matter if you aren't 100% amazing at something, that just means you can do anything you want in the future!

Kiyotaka (Happily): Yes, I am in total agreement with that. Ordinary people should not be under estimated, we can truly do anything that we put our minds to!

Leon (Happily): It doesn't matter if you don't have a talent you're not proud of anyway, leaving this school with a pass will allow you to purse any dream you've ever wanted!

Chihiro (Happily): Besides, if nothing else, at least we'll become friends, right?

To say I was taken aback would be an understatement. I had just told them that I wasn't all that special compared to them and yet most of them just accepted me as if I was nothing different. I guess in a way, I'm not that much different. We're all still human and we're trapped inside of this building. I know it's a little early to be thinking this, but when we get out I'd love to keep in touch with everyone, or at least everyone that would accept that. Of course, as if the world knew I was happy, a voice ran out of the speakers.

???: Glad to see you are all getting along so well! Can everyone head to the gym posthaste!

The response to this was mixed. Some people, such as Byakuya, Kyoko, Celeste, Yasuhiro and Sakura all went out without a fuss. Others were a little more panicked but still went along anyway. I was about to be the last one to head out when I was stopped by a familiar voice.

Sayaka (Happily): Makoto! It's so good to see you again. It's been so long and it's so nice to see a familiar face!

Makoto (Shocked): You remember me!?

Sayaka (Cheerful): Of course! Why wouldn't I?

I was about to open my mouth to answer that, after all, I am the most average guy you could get, there's nothing special about me.

Sayaka (Cheerful): Average? I don't think you're average at all Makoto. You are one of the nicest people around and to be honest, I've always wanted to say hello to you, after you took that crane out of the class, I knew you must have been nice, after all, it's said that animals can sense those things, right?

Makoto (Shocked): How did you know what I was thinking?

Sayaka (Calmly): I'm psychic... Just kidding! I just have really good intuition.

Makoto (Calmly): Well, okay then. Let's head to the gym before we get expelled before we've had our first lesson.

Sayaka (Happily): Yeah! I'll walk with you!

I walked down the hallway with Sayaka passing by the nurse's office and the toilet rooms. The store also caught my eye but since it's locked, I can't go in there, nor any other rooms.

The gym had an entrance to it with lots of trophies that had Hope's Peak name on them, which deals me to wonder. Where on Earth are we? This can't be Hope's Peak, can it?

The gym itself was huge, but had nothing out of the ordinary, apart from the stage that was there. Everyone was gathered inside the game, and as soon as me and Sayaka went inside, the voice appeared again.

??? (Joyfully): "Welcome to Hope's Peak Academy! I'm your new headmaster and my name is Monokuma!"

This got everyone confused as the headmaster was... wait who was it again? I checked the Hope's Peak Academy website and everything, but I don't know who it is... 

However, I couldn't focus on that, as from out of nowhere, a teddy bear popped out of the speaker stand and was doing poses like it was a human or something! But saying this was a normal teddy would be a lie. It was half white and normal looking, but the other part was just plain creepy. It was black with a red cyborg eye and had a grin that made it look like a slasher villain or something.

Monokuma (Joyfully): My name is Monokuma and I'm you're new Headmaster! Now I bet you're wondering why I've called you all here today! But first, anyway questions?

The first one to speak up was in fact Chihiro, which caught everyone off guard.

Chihiro (Quietly): Where is everyone else, I thought my friend was here, they started in Class 77, right? So, where is she?

Monokuma (sadistically): Well kid, here's your first lesson in life, don't ask questions you don't want the answers to, but if you must know, she's most likely dead.

The bluntness of the answer caught everyone off guard even more so than before. The year above us and likely further were all dead! Chihiro in reaction to the news, started sobbing uncontrollably.

Monokuma (Joyfully): Does anyone else have any questions? Or can I just get on with the show?

Byakuya (Calm): I would like to know where we are, this cannot be Hope's Peak Academy.

Monokuma (Joyfully): Kids these days wouldn't be able to see the truth even if it smacked them in the face, yes this is the school that you wanted to go to. Appearances aren't everything you know!  
This comment shocked us all, this couldn't be it right? And yet all the pieces in the puzzle fit. But Monokuma didn't seem to want to stop talking just yet.

Monokuma (Joyfully): Now then let's get on to the reason you all are here. You all are going to spend two weeks here and then... well you'll all die.

Makoto (Shocked): NO THAT'S WRONG!

I suddenly yelled from the top of my voice, I have no idea where this burst of courage came from, but I might as well use it to my advantage.

Monokuma (Questioning): How so? I don't think I'm pulling your leg, although if you want, I'll let you give your reasoning.

Makoto (Determined): Well for starters, I'm standing in the same room as some of the most well-known and successful people in the world and that means three things! One, they won't be fooled by your lies. Secondly, all of them have lot of people that would want them to be safe and sound and lastly, they are all good people and I know they won't harm each other. Lastly, you've got no proof that you could attack or harm us anyway, so we've got no reason to panic! So, I know they won't spend two weeks here just to die, because they can work together to escape from this trap using their abilities!

Nearly everyone appeared dumbfounded by my new-found courage and optimism, however one creature wasn't that impressed by my ability to seemingly make inspiring speeches come out of nowhere.

Monokuma (Questioning): Hmm, not a bad speech at all. But there's something that I noticed while you were yapping on. You never used the words "I" or "We" went talking about everyone. You always used they. Why is that? Simple, you don't belong here, and you know this, you are just an average kid and you know this. You know what, I do have a way any of you could escape form this place... (Sinister) Commit a successful murder.

Everyone's faces turned into true panic and fear, commit murder, can we do that, we can't right. Murder changes people how would anyone be able to live with themselves. He's just trying to trick us... right?

Monokuma (Sinister): Of course, I know you'd all be smart enough to be able to use your abilities to commit a murder, that is, if you have any. HAHAHAHA!

He's right... I just am normal person, if someone were to commit murder, I'd be a sitting duck...

Kyoko (Calm): Why are you trying to break him in particular?

Monokuma (Questioning): Wah? What on earth could you possibly mean?

Kyoko (Calm): What I mean is, why are you giving him a breaking speech and trying to get him to break. He's not the type that would want to commit murder, even if he had to, so wouldn't it make more sense to go after someone else?

Kyoko's question ran though the hall as no one wanted to interrupt them. Still she believes I wouldn't kill someone even if I had to... that's surprising, but also nice. But I am interested in Monokuma's answer.

Monokuma (Calm): Well if you must know, it ties into why I want you all to do this? Any guesses?

Toko (Panicked): Because you have a f-fetish for murder!? Or maybe you get turned on by dead bodies?

Monokuma (Shocked): ... In a way, you aren't wrong, but I guess you're not right either. Anyone else?

No one else seemed to want to answer that question, everyone just stood in silence and then Mondo ran up onto the stage at seemingly random and grabbed the bear!

Mondo (Raging): I'VE HAD ENOUGH! I'M GONNA DESTROY YOU AND THEN WE'LL GET OUT OF HERE!

Monokuma (Panicked): Wait! Violence against the headmaster is against the rules, and that would mean would get punished!

Mondo (Raging): CAN'T PUNISH ME IF YOU'RE DEAD.

Everyone in the room was frozen with fear, we couldn't say or do anything to stop Mondo. Did he also think the Monokuma was a bluff or was he just that angry? Either way, the person that was the most panicked was a surprising one

Kyoko (Panicked): THROW IT!

Mondo (Confused): Huh?

It took a second for a ticking sound to ring into the room, but when it did.

Byakuya (Panicked): Simpleton, I advise you throw it now! 

Leon (Panicked): IT'S A BOMB!

Junko (Scared): THROW IT, THROW IT!

Listening to the commands of the others, Mondo hurled it as far as he could throw it, and everyone was right on the money, the bear exploded firing bits everywhere. Everyone either ducked as if they were behind cover or put their arms over their faces to protect themselves

After that, everyone was silent, we didn't want to jinx it or anything, after a few seconds though, someone spoke you.

Aoi (Cautious): Hey, I don't want to jinx it or anything, but is it over?

Mondo (Angry): Better be, that stupid plush almost killed me!

Monokuma (Angry): HEY, HEY! FIRST OF ALL, I'M A BEAR, AND YOU BROKE THE RULES! (Calm) But I suppose that you all finally get the message, right? Don't break the rules. I'll give you all a gift as well! Come and pick up yours!

Suddenly a bunch of tablets popped up out of the ground, one by one, we walked up to collect our own.

Monokuma (Calm): Since I don't want to be attacked again, here's all you need to know, the rules are on there so losing it is not a good idea. OK? See ya! Good luck in the Killing Game!  
Some of us, myself included, decided to look at the rules right away. The Rules went as follows:

Rule #1: Students may reside only within the school. Leaving campus is an unacceptable use of time.

Rule #2: "Nighttime" is from 10 pm to 7 am. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution.

Rule #3: Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory will be sleeping in class and punished accordingly.

Rule #4: With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore Hope's Peak Academy at your discretion.

Rule #5: Violence against headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras.

Rule #6: Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered.

Rule #7: Additional school regulations may be added if necessary.

These rules seem basic enough. I was sleeping at the classroom, but since I didn't know about the rules, I think it's a pass. Although what counts as sleeping? How long would I have to close my eyes to be count it as sleeping. Why this is my focus! All the other things seem normal at least. Apart from the murdering.

Byakuya (Calm): Hmph, so this is a game is it?

Oh no. Everyone is looking at the Affluent Progeny with a look of pure disgust. This is going to end badly isn't it.

Mondo (Angry): The fuck you mean, this isn't a game, it's murder!

Byakuya (Calm): But if you look it as a game, then there is one objective, to win, and our prize is survival. Although I doubt it will be that easy, I still expect to win.

Mondo (Angry): Don't fuck with me! Murder is murder! How about I show you why it's a bad idea to be a dick!

Byakuya (Calm): Seeing how you almost died, I'd say it's a worse idea to be an idiot.

I must stop this, and fast. Mondo's looks like he's about to kill Byakuya. I can't let that happen!

Mondo (Angry): You want to run that by me again, jackass?

I rushed in between the two, in a desperate attempt to stop the fighting

Makoto (Panicked): Hold on! We can't start fighting, there might be another wa-

Mondo (Enraged): SHUT UP!

Before I could finish my sentence, Mondo threw a punch of pure rage at me, and it threw all my air out of my lungs and I fell unconsciousness before I landed on the ground.

The next thing I knew, I woke up in my bed, and I was in indescribable pain, makes sense I suppose. I was punched by the second strongest person in the school. The room was pretty basic, I had a table and some chairs in front of my bed and on my left was Sayaka, who was incredibly happy to see me alive, and my bathroom, which I don’t think cared if I was alive or not. 

Sayaka (Happy): Makoto! You're awake! For a while I thought you were gonna sleep the whole day away!

Makoto (Calm): Well, my stomach still hurts and... nah I'm fine.

Sayaka (Calm): Makoto, I don't need to be psychic to know that what Mondo said hurt you badly and what Monokuma said hurt you worse. Listen, we aren't going to murder anyone OK. Besides if anything, you're the Ultimate Speech Giver, since you pretty much inspired most of us with just that!

Makoto (Embarrassed): R-Really?

Sayaka (Happily): Of course! (Serious) But are you able to walk?

Her sudden shift in tone was jarring to say the least, but I guess I should be honest.

Makoto (Slightly Confused): I guess so, but why?

Sayaka (Calm): Oh good! Anyway, we should head to the cafeteria, everyone's gonna be there soon. Let's go!

It was a challenge to walk to the cafeteria, but I made it anyway. Everyone else was already there, although judging by the fact that Sakura and Hina were sitting down, it seems me and Sayaka weren't too far behind

Aoi (Shocked): Oh, Makoto! Didn't expect to see you up so soon! (Happily) Guess you're stronger than you expected to be, right!

Makoto (Embarrassed): Well glad to see I'm liked by everyone. (Calm) But what did you all find?

Sakura (Calm): Me, Hina and Mondo all went to the iron bars, but it was impossible to pull them off. It seems whomever captured us seemed to be aware of our stretch. 

Chihiro (Quietly): I also explored the kitchen and then Monokuma showed up...

To say that everyone was shocked at this would be an understatement. The mood had turned from positive to a negative from just the sound of his name. She didn't mean for it to happen of course, but I suppose the bear is the reason why we're all stuck here.

Hifumi (Shocked): WAH WAH!?

Toko (Panicked): Did the bear attack you? I b-bet that he wanted to a-attack you sexually, right?

Chihiro (Quietly): Oh, no. He didn't say anything like that. I just checked the fridge and he said that it would be refilled every day that we're here is all.

Makoto (Sincerely): Well I'm glad you're OK, and it's nice to know that food won't be a problem here. But is that all?

I might have been seeing things, but I think Chihiro is slightly happier now after I said that. I guess saying that you care can sometimes go a long way. 

Kyoko (Calm): Apart from the fact that we've each got our own rooms, there's not much else of note that I don't think you don't know about. We've got a furnace room, for trash I believe, and we've got a wash room, which has lots of washing machines.

Makoto (Calm): OK, thank you.

Yasuhiro (Calm): Honestly, I don't see why we're all wasting time with panicking and stuff. Listen, it won't be long now until the real headmaster appears, and we've been pranked!

Makoto (Saddened): I wish we could all be as optimistic as you Yasuhiro...

Toko (Angry): D-Don't be stupid! T-this isn't optimism, this is just d-denial! An optimistic point of view that still has some basis on reality is that not all of us die in here.

Yasuhiro (Angry): Hey, don't call me stupid! You know what, I'll prove to you all that we're all going to survive! I'll see into the future and I'll tell you who survives and who dies!

Byakuya (Calm): If it shuts you up, go ahead.

This is bad, I feel like we're not gonna get a long, if Yasuhiro is wrong... then I don't think we're gonna last very long. No, I can't think like that they're Ultimates, even if they don't like each other, murder is something I know they wouldn't do. They're all good people trapped in a bad place, but we'll get out! But first, I've got to ask something

Makoto (Questioning): Hey, what time is it?

Everyone appeared shocked at this, and admittedly that was a dumb question, but I wanted to take everyone's mind of the current topic.

Sayaka (Calm): Well, if you look at the clock, you'd be surprised.

Makoto (Calm): Huh, why... (Shocked) It's 9.55PM!

Sayaka (Calm): Yeah, you were out for a while, (Angry) I wonder why.

Sayaka's glaring at Mondo now and Mondo looks sheepish.

Mondo (Embarrassed): Hey man, sorry about that. Guess I got a little mad and wanted to punch something. You didn't die though, so that's impressive!

Makoto (Confused); Err, OK. I forgive you.

Suddenly, a bell rang, and then Monokuma appeared on screen. 

Monokuma: It is now 10pm and that means it's officially nighttime. Some area's will be closing soon so please leave them as soon as possible!

Makoto (Calm): Guess that means we're going to bed now. Night everyone!

Sayaka (Calm): Oh, you need your key, here, I kept it just in case. Also, don’t forget to come here as soon as you get up ok! We want to have team meetings every day!

Sayaka handed my key and the information to me and we went to our rooms.

My room is the exact same as before, so that's nice to know. But then, right as I was about to fall asleep. I got an unwanted and unexpected visitor.

Monokuma (Excited): Hey, hey! It's your favorite bear! Monokuma!

Makoto (Tried): What do you want?

Monokuma (Excited): Well, it doesn't have everything to do with you, but you might want to learn this information as well. Hey, you, the person watching this

Makoto (Tried): What the heck are you...?

Monokuma (Dismissive): Eh, you don't have to understand. No more questions until we're done! (Excited) Listen, I'm gonna give you 10 Monocoins free of charge. So, you want to go and get some presents for your classmates! You've got two days until the first motive so what you want to do is build trust with someone and you can only build trust twice a day! Why, I don't know, but if you do this, they'll become your investigation partner and they won't die! Most likely, I mean I can't see the future, but they'll trust you and won't do anything reckless. I can confirm that! Anyway, hope luck is on your side kid!

Makoto (Confused): Why are you doing this exactly? Like the murder game and trying to make me choose? And what is this about a motive?

Monokuma (Calm): Well the first and third questions are classified information, but I can answer the second one free of charge! Because kid, I gotta be honest, I was impressed by your little speech, and you know what, I want to see if you can make it using a rule that will come a little later. So, like the upstanding citizen I am I decided to help you a little bit. (Sinisterly) God know you'll need it to survive. HAHAHAHAHA! Also, by the way, your bathroom door is broken and you need to push it down as well as twisting it to open it.

Monokuma left after that. I couldn’t really focus on the bathroom problem as he said that we've got a motive coming up, but still, can I trust him about this? Even if he's wrong, trying to give someone some gifts would be nice, and I would like to let someone else know that I believe in them... But if that were the case, who would I choose? I suppose I should sleep on it then.

Day 1/14 Finished!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter I guess is mainly introductions so that's pretty neat, pretty boring to get though though. Also I somehow Byakuya's name wrong the whole time, thank goodness for the find and replace tool. Feedback is welcome I guess and I'm very worried about this, but might as well shallow my pride. Also were any characters not done justice here, hopefully I can make amends on that. These things should be weekly and that's pretty neat.


	2. Day 2: Daily Life begins!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two weeks of Killing continues as it's time for the daily life! Sayaka and Chihiro interact with Makoto. Also there's a debate going on so that's neat.

Monokuma: It is now 7am. Get ready to get another beautiful day at Hope's Peak Academy!

I woke up with the ten Monocoins in my pocket. So that wasn't a dream, a part of me is glad about this strangely enough, I've been enjoying my time with everyone, even if that makes me feel a little selfish. But then again, I wish we weren't involved in a killing game. But I can’t stay here forever, besides I think it'll be nice to get gifts for everyone.

I headed off to the store as quickly as I could, without running into anyone else surprisingly enough and I entered it, there was a lot of prizes that simply didn't feel like they worth anything. I put my coins in the so-called Monomono Machine and decided to see what I would get out of it. Here are the ten prizes what I got.

45\. Unending Dandelion

2\. Diet Coke

28\. Red Scarf

3\. Civet Coffee

70\. Tips & Tips

12\. Flotation Dount

42\. Kirlian Camera

21\. Blueberry Perfume

66\. Millennium Prize Problems

63\. Moon Rock

I hope my luck paid off for one, but who should I gift these gifts to? I suppose I can decide that after my breakfast, since I forgot completely about that. So now I was running quickly and ran right into the cafeteria.  
  
Kiyotaka (Loudly): MAKOTO, YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT BEING LATE TO BREAKFAST IS NOT-

Byataka (Annoyed): Please shut up for once, the commoner likely slept in. The mere fact that he survived a punch from the idiot doesn't mean he's immune to the pain of it.

Mondo (Annoyed): Hey, who are you calling idiot!

Makoto (Panicked): Err, Yasuhiro!

Yasuhiro (Panicked): HUH!? I don't want to get punched!

Makoto (Calmer): No, I mean, yesterday you said you'd look into the future to see who would survive? What results did you get?

Yasuhiro (Proud): Oh! So, you remembered huh? Well I can't name names as it was quite cryptic for someone reason. But if this isn't a trap, then I can say for sure that I'm 100% right, 30% of the time!

Byataka (Annoyed): So, we're taking this with a grain of salt then?

Yasuhiro (Annoyed): Whatever man, it's your loss! (Proud) Anyway, the images that were shown to me were a bunny, a 4 leafed clover, a tie, a pen, a crystal ball and a book.

Makoto (Calm): So, if I'm correct in assuming things, I'd be the 4 leafed clover, you'd be the crystal ball, a book would be Toko, I think the bunny might be referring to Chihiro.

Chihiro (Shocked): Huh? Why would a bunny be referring to me?

Makoto (Calm): Well when I did my research on everyone-

Toko (Shocked): D-did your research include n-nudes of us? (Disgusted) Because I bet i-it did pervert!

Makoto (Shocked): Oh no, nothing like that! I suppose that does sound kind of creepy when I say it like that... sorry. (Calm and disturbed) But anyway, I just did a google search of the names of everyone else that was said to go, and Chihiro is known as a cute little bunny in some parts of the web... I got a warning not to search that part when I found that information, so do with that what you will.

Chihiro looks like she's about to faint, as she turned into a colour of white that should not be on someone's face, I should change the subject quickly.

Makoto (Calm): A-anyway. A tie might refer to either Byataka or Kyoko since they both wear a tie and seem like hardworking people and the pen could refer to any of the rest of us to be honest, as I feel that would refer to a student, but maybe Hifumi, as he is a writer, in a way. But apart from that, I'm drawing a blank.

Yasuhiro (Proud): Nice to see I've got a satisfied customer! Now that'll be 1000 bucks!

Makoto (Shocked): Wait what!?

Yasuhiro (Annoyed): Of course! Do you think I can afford to do this for free?

Sayaka (Annoyed): You were the one that suggested that you yourself should do it, why does Makoto have to pay?

Chihiro (Quiet): Besides, you said that this would only be in effect if this wasn't a ruse, right? But you keep saying it is, so it's not really telling the future is it?

Yasuhiro (Annoyed): Well, yeah! But I can tell you for 100% certainty that if my previous prediction failed, that this once would be right!

Byataka (Calm): I see where the child is going with this. So, are you saying your powers are not real? Since if you predicted it to be a ruse, that must mean either this one is wrong or that one is wrong, and you never asked for payment for your first one, so that must mean you are charging for false information.

Yasuhiro (Annoyed and Confused) Hey! My predictions are right 100% of the time, 30% of the time, so... Argh! You win. You can have this one for free.

Makoto (Defeated): I didn't realize I was paying in the first place.

Monokuma (Happy): Thank you to Byataka for ending that ramble! Seriously, I couldn't decide when the best time to come out would be. But anyway, just wanted to let you all know, if there isn't a murder by tomorrow noon, I'm gonna be giving you all a motive, because saying you'll die in two weeks seemingly isn't good enough... fricking weridos. Anyway, believe what you want to believe, makes it more interesting to have lots of different viewpoints you know, and if you all aren't interesting... let's just say it's gonna be a long as heck two weeks. For me at least.

Monokuma ruined everyone's mood... again, after that we decided just to relax and do whatever we needed or wanted to do.

However, I've got an important question to ask myself, who should I grow closer to? My first response would be Sayaka, but if what Monokuma said is true and this will be protecting them, then maybe I should focus on someone else? I can trust Sayaka to be safe, she's smart enough not to get herself killed and I know for a fact that she won't kill. Besides we went to the same middle school, so if I want to catch up, it wouldn't be impossible to just go over and say hi, right? Maybe I should just see it as who do I want to hang out with and gift some gifts too. I think I want to help Chihiro, she did just get told that her friend is more than likely dead, so I want to help her out. Besides I don't think she'll mind some company, she's really nice. Yeah, I've decided I'll hang out with Chihiro.

I found her doing nothing in the washing room. I hope I don't mess this up.

Makoto (Slightly worried): Hey, Chihiro.

Chihiro (Surprised): Oh, Makoto. How are you?

Makoto (Calm): Apart from the fact I'm stuck in a school with a murderous bear, I'm doing well.

Chihiro (Happy): Well, I'm glad to hear it, (Confused) but why did you come here without any clothes to wash?

Makoto (Happy): Well if it isn't too much to ask, do you want to hang out, maybe get some tea from the cafeteria?

Chihiro (Pleasantly Surprised): Yeah, that'd be nice. I've made tea before, so I'll make some, besides I kind of want to thank you for inviting me to talk.

Makoto (Calm): Chihiro... Thank you.

We went to the cafeteria and got two chairs and sat a small table, and Chihiro made us some tea, which ended up being really enjoyable.

Chihiro (Nervous): So... do you want to talk about anything, while we drink our tea?

Makoto (Calm): Yeah, that sounds nice. Do you mind if I ask about you?

Chihiro (Nervous): No, of course not! I'm happy to talk about myself.

Makoto (Politely): Well, when did you first start programming, or what got you into it? Since it has a primarily male audience, I was wondering how you got into it.

Chihiro (Happily): You can thank my dad for that. He was a programmer at a really big company and so he did a lot of it, when I was seven, I was at home and I somehow managed to get into his room and I just started messing around on his computer, I was there for about 4 hours, even though I didn't realize it, when he found me I thought I was in trouble, but then he saw my work and he was pleasantly surprised, I ended up making a basic menu system. I saw his smile when he found out and from then on, I've been programming lots of different things for different people, and that wouldn't change if I was a boy. And before you ask, I haven't made any games.

Makoto (Impressed): I mean I wasn't going to ask if you've made any games, but wow! That's awesome! No wonder you're the Ultimate Programmer, (Panicked) and I didn't mean anything by my comment about it being a male audience, honest!

Chihiro (Calm): Thank you for those kind words and don't worry, I know you didn't. Anyway, I guess telling people that I haven't made any games is kind of a natural reaction for me, but anyway, I want to ask something about you, if you don't mind?

Makoto (Surprised): I mean, sure? There's nothing interesting about me though.

Chihiro (Concerned): Well, I remember what happened yesterday, and you still seem down on yourself because you got in here by luck, but you still decided to come to Hope's Peak, why is that?

Makoto (Reflecting): Well, I guess it was mainly my family, they were all so happy for me when I got the letter, we had to triple check it wasn't a prank or anything. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go, but my sister told me this "Listen, so what if you're "normal", maybe that's why you're going! All of this, "we want to see how luck is a talent" mumbo jumbo is just a ruse! Maybe why they choose someone else is because all these Ultimates might want a friend who has a foot in the normal world Makoto! They are all either very important people who likely didn't have time to socialize with the common people or are simply people who struggle with talking to others. You can help them, you can be that step in the normal world for them! Besides if they don't like you, suck it up! You'll be gone in three years with the ability to do what every you want anyway, and if they do, you've got a friend for life!" It was those words that made me want to come here, Hope's Peak may not have given me a reason that I like to be here, but she sure did. Of course, a foot in the normal world might not help right now but, that was before this whole thing

Chihiro (Happily): I'm glad to see that you have a good relationship with your family, and that speeches are a thing that run in your family. It was my dad that decided to help me get the courage to come here, I was scared that people wouldn't like me, but he assured me that everything would be fine, and he'd help me though everything. I like your sister's reasoning for you to be here to, it's just nice to know you're here to help us you know!

Makoto (Joyfully): And I'd be glad to help everyone. (Cautious) Hey Chihiro, do you mind if I give you something?

Chihiro (Confused): No, not really.

Makoto (Relieved): Oh, thank goodness, because I wanted to give you this ...

*Pick a gift!*

Picked 42. Kirlian Camera

Makoto (Calm): Here, I got you this.

Chihiro (Shocked): Huh!? Makoto, do you know what this is?

Makoto (Confused): It's a camera, right?

Chihiro (Shocked) I guess that explains that then. (Happily) This is a camera that picks up on electrical corona discharge and I think it has something to do with water. (sighs) To be honest, I really don't know much about it (Happily) but a lot of the pictures taken with this are really nice-looking patterns! I'll try it out! Say Cheese!

Makoto (Calm) Cheese!

Chihiro got up and showed me the picture and it was a very weird photo to say the least. You could tell where I was thanks to the colours and there was a glow coming off me in the picture, and the tea was very bright.

Chihiro (Sad): Whoever made this really didn't put much effort into it though, there's no film in here, so we won't be able to keep the photo.

Makoto (Calm): Well, we could just store it in our memories, right?

Chihiro (Calm): Hehe, yeah. Hey Makoto, can I talk with you for a little while longer?

Makoto (Happily Surprised): Really!? Of course! I mean, I like talking with you, so I'd be glad to!

Chihiro (Happily): YAY! Alright, we are both here because of our friends and families right, your sister helped you, and my dad helped me, and I just want to talk about them, to not forget them you know.

Makoto (Worried): Are you sure, I mean, Monokuma might pop up again and tell yo-

Chihiro (Somber): I know what you're about to say Makoto, but I just want someone else to know about her and what a great person she was, because if she's dead, then I want her memory to live on. And sorry if I start crying halfway through, but I want to get this off my chest.

Makoto (Calm): Of course, I'll listen to every word.

Chihiro (Somber): Thank you. Her name was Chiaki Nanami and she was supposed to be in Class 77-B as the Ultimate Gamer, we are Class 78-A for refence. She was an odd fellow at times, she was very sleepy almost all the time, and kind of an airhead. But she loved video games a lot, even if she didn't think she earned the talent of Ultimate Gamer. When she cared about you, she really did, even if that wasn't many people, I had the privilege of being one of those people. She'd help me whenever I was sad, and she always let me play with her, even though I wasn't very good. She could get lots of high scores and was really good at speedrunning, I think it's because she said that she can play any game over and over again and not get bored and, she has a strange verbal tic where she goes "I think" after a lot of sentences. Honestly, she was my closest friend and... and now she's *sniff*

Makoto (Calm): It's OK to let out your emotions, I'll still be here when you're done.

After I said that, Chihiro started bawling her eyes out, it was hard for me not to cry as well. Luckily, no one came in to ask what was up, because I think they already knew, or were just being polite, after a while, she finally slowed down.

Chihiro (Sniffling): T-thank you for staying with me... I just never got to say goodbye and now Monokuma's gonna...

Makoto (Determined): Listen, Monokuma is going to kill no one. You have my word, I'll get everyone out of here, or at least, I'm gonna try my best... (Somber) But can I ask you one thing?

Chihiro (Saddened): S-sure.

She was wiping her eyes, which had gone red from crying so much.

Makoto (Somber): Can I talk about my sister now, I mean, I feel I just want to talk about her, sorry if it's not the-

Chihiro (Sniffling): I-It's fine, I would have asked later anyway.

Makoto (Somber): Thank you. My Sister's name is Komaru Naegi, and she's pretty normal compared to everyone here, but she's still my little sister. We'd get into fights and squabble over things that really don't matter, heck I'm still annoyed about the fact that she's somehow taller than me, but we'd always help each other out. We'd give each other speeches over pretty much nothing, it'd also be a competition between us, but we're family and family does that sometimes. To be honest, even though I've been out of my hometown for less than a week, it feels like it's been years since I saw her last. She did have some weird quirks, she could talk to ghosts and fans for one thing and her favorite food is very, very odd to say the least, but I still miss her, and it gives me the motivation to keep moving forward.

I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes, I just want to bawl my eyes out, but I can't, not right now... Chihiro has gone quiet now... D-Did I do something wrong? Should I ask?

Makoto (Concerned): Hey, Chihiro? Are you OK?

Chihiro (Quiet): ... I'm fine, you haven't done anything wrong, I think I just want some time to myself for now, if that is fine.

Makoto (Somber): It's fine... here, I got a few things from the store, so I'll let you have it, consider it a thank you gift for listening to me ramble.

*Gift a Gift!*

45\. Unending Dandelion

Makoto (Somber): See you later then.

Chihiro (Somber and Quiet): You too.

I walked out of the Cafeteria, not in a bad mood, but more of a sad mood, neither of us did anything wrong I think, it's just hard to accept the fact that we'll never see our families again. I should go see how Sayaka's doing, she'll cheer me up. I found her in the Trashing Room, surprisingly enough.

Makoto (Somber): Hey, Sayaka...

Sayaka (Surprised): Oh! Hey, Makoto! Are you OK? I overheard your chat with Chihiro and I figured that you'd want sometime alone, after all, I can't even imagine the pain of losing someone you're that close to without even being able to say goodbye. Besides I can see the tears in your eyes. Are you sure you don't want to cry?

Makoto (Somber): I can cry later, I just want to make sure everyone else is alright.

Sayaka (Worried): Makoto...

I know she's worried about me, but I don't want to put my problems on her, I just want to take my mind off what just happened.

Makoto (Clearly Somber): Hey, do you want to do something, anything at all?

I think Sayaka can see though me, but I think she also knows that I just want to focus on something else for now.

Sayaka (Worried): Alright, it's not healthy for you to put yourself before everyone else, but I'll give in, maybe we should look for something, like something for self-defense?

Makoto (Worried): HUH? Sayaka you don't think?

Sayaka (Calm): I don't think anyone will attack anyone else, no, but sometimes, preparing for the worst is the only way to hope for the best. Besides, it gives you something to do.

She's right, I need something, anything to do. So I decided to go with her to look for something to defend ourselves with.

We looked all over the school and we didn't find anything of note, there were knives in the kitchen, but since I didn't want my search to end so soon and due to the fact that's where Chihiro and I talked, Sayaka and I subconsciously agreed to search elsewhere. We ended up at the Gym's Entrance for our last looked area, as we both remember the gym itself having nothing of note.

Sayaka (Pondering): Hmm...

Makoto (Wondering): Did you find something of note?

Sayaka (Pondering): Maybe... Would this...?

Sayaka reached into the trophy hold and took out the sword that was in there.

Sayaka (Pondering): ... (Disappointed) Nope, it's a fake...

Makoto (In awe): It's still really pretty though, I like the way the gold glitters and the design is really nice to look at. I wonder how long it took to make

Sayaka (Happily): Well in that case, why not just take it?

Makoto (Surprised): Huh?

Sayaka (Calm): There's no harm in doing so right, no rules or anything?

Makoto (Calm): I guess so, it’d be nice to have in my room anyway. Thanks for taking me with you, even if this trip didn't really have a focus.

Sayaka (Happily): Makoto, it's just fun to hang out with you, and I want to get to know you. You're the only person I recognize here, and I want us both to be happy you know.

Makoto (Happily): Alright then! I'm gonna take this to my room now! See you again soon!

I headed back to my room, but that was nice, just to spend time doing nothing with someone that you care about, not that I don't care about anyone else, but just forgetting you're in a murder game is nice.

I'm getting hungry, so I'll head to the cafeteria. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?

...I should not have said that. When I entered the Cafeteria, I found a debate going forth between Hifumi and Yasuhiro vs Byataka and Toko.

Hifumi (Angry): Of course, it's fake, if it were real, we would have been saved by now!

Byataka (Annoyed): So are we supposed to assume the fact that when the biker fool almost got himself killed was fake.

Yasuhiro (Calm): Of course! Mondo was simply a part of the act man, he wasn't in any danger.

Toko (Annoyed): Are you insisting that Mondo could keep up an act like that for this long? Then who else is in on its h-huh? W-Was punching Makoto apart of the act too? If so, Hope's Peak c-could be sued!

Yasuhiro (Annoyed): Well it's not like Makoto couldn't have been a part of the act.

Makoto (Surprised): WHAT!

Yasuhiro (Calm): Oh, it's you! Hey, we were just discussing something. We could use your input.

Byataka (Confused): You accused him of being a part of this and now you are acting like he'd be on your side. How the hell do you expect to get out of here alive!

Hifumi (Proud): Because there is no killing game thing, so he'll be fine! This seems like such an obvious red herring that even a fool would see it. After all, they wouldn't kill off so many characters with possibilities for a future sequels and spin offs!

Toko (Annoyed): How delusional can you get! This isn't a story you can write your way out of or something! This is real life!

I'm going to try and sneak out slowly, please don't notice me, please don't notice me.

Yasuhiro (Annoyed): Hey, you're supposed to be the tiebreaker, give your thoughts man!

Makoto (Worried): I don't really want to.

Yasuhiro (Angry): Come on! After I gave you that free sight into the future, now you're treating me like this, low blow dude!

Byataka (Annoyed): Please just say anything so then I can leave.

Makoto (Worried): Alright then... (Somber) I honestly am not sure, because it all depends on one thing... if we start killing, if we start letting Monokuma in our heads and letting the motives get to us then it's a killing game, if not, then it's not a killing game. But we are trapped and will likely die in two weeks, a few well-placed explosions from that bear could bring down the school if he wanted to, and the guns in the entrance hall could also be outside, preventing rescue. I don't want to think about either, but with no other evidence, that's all I can say.

I walked out right after saying that, paying no mind to anyone or anything else. I want to just go to sleep, I can feel the tiredness sweeping though me anyway. I think I should have held back a bit though... whatever, I can think about it in there morning. I got back into my room and fell right on to my bed.

Monokuma: It is now 10pm and that means it's officially nighttime. Some area's will be closing soon so please leave them as soon as possible!

Finally, maybe a good night's rest will cheer me up. It's done so in the past, so why wouldn't it?

Monokuma (Joyfully): Hello there! Ultimate Unlucky Student! How are you this fine evening.

Of course, of course he'll appear before my very eyes while I'm trying to sleep, why wouldn't he!

Monokuma (Joyfully): Aww, don't desbear yet! (Sinisterly) We haven't even had a murder, after all, how can I advertise this as a murder game if there's no murder, right? (Joyfully) Anyway, so you're hanging out with Fujisaki huh? Well let's just say they have a secret that might make you slightly disappointed.

Makoto (Shocked): HUH? What do you mean?

Monokuma (Joyfully): BWAHAHAHAHA! I'm not going to spoil the fun for you! They do seem to trust you quite a bit more than everyone else though, so you're doing a good job kiddo! One or two more conversions like that, and I think you'd be the best of friends!

Makoto (Tried and Confused): I didn't think friendships worked that way.

Monokuma (Joyfully): And I didn't think you all would go two days without murdering each other, but hey, it's not like I'm bearly disappointed in you or anything, just mildly. If you want an explanation so badly, well try asking them tomorrow or something, I'm no psychic. Anyway, get a good night's rest, (Sinisterly) It could be your last. BWAHAHAHAHA!

Makoto (Tried): Chihiro has a secret? I wonder why Monokuma brought that up, we all have different secrets, so I don't see why her secret would be that bad, besides I know she's a good person. Hopefully she'll want to hang out some more, if not then I can always hang out with someone else then, right?

As I talked to myself, I grew more and more tired until all I could see was darkness. Resting reminded me of the motive, but I know we won't be swayed that easily.

Day 2/14 Finished!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is gonna be the last chapter to use this type of formatting. I'm gonna be posting the next Chapter today as well so then you can all get some compensation or something, then this is gonna be weekly I guess. I'll do my best. But anyway. I'm very scared of how well I'm showing off the characters. I feel like I might be doing something wrong and that scares me a bit, but hope you enjoy this Double Upload, because it's the only one you're gonna get.


	3. Day 3: The first motive strikes!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time for joyfulness is coming to a close as Monokuma shows off a new motive. Meanwhile Makoto spends more time with Chihiro, and spends time with Asahina and Kiyotaka!

I finally woke up in my bed after a surprisingly good night's rest, however yesterday is still on my mind, I still feel bad for Yasuhiro and Hifumi, but they'll be fine. I've just got to have faith.

I walked back into the cafeteria, and everyone was there, 14 other people and thankfully they were just talking calmly I took my place and decided to listen in to what everyone had to say. Kiyotaka was the first to speak, as he normally would be.

"Listen to me everyone! Monokuma is giving out his motive today, now we must remain as a tighter group than before, so we shouldn't keep any secrets, feelings and other things like that to ourselves! So today I think we should open up!"

However, the person that responded first was a surprise to everyone involved.

"But if we can't keep secrets, does that mean we won't be able to trust one another. Besides sometimes people can have a good reason to lie... I think" Chihiro replied meekly... Monokuma said something like that last night, right? Something like 'they have a secret that might make you slightly disappointed' and she's using her friend's verbal tic too. I'll see where this goes before interrupting it.

"Ms. Fujisaki are you hiding something from us! That's a bad sign in a game like this you know. People like you are the most likely to die while keeping your secret!" Hifumi replied, in a panicked tone. All this did was make Chihiro more visibly nervous.

"That does seem likely. After all, I don't think Chihiro could adapt in time, she just seems like a fragile flower" Celeste said, in her usual tone

"Chihiro Fujisaki! If your secret is nothing bad then there is no shame in hiding it right, however if it is bad, then you should tell us to protect you!" Kiyotaka shouted, the last two statements did not help Chihiro in the slightest, I can't watch this anymore, maybe if I just lie it could get them of her back

"Hey, it's not important. Chihiro's just... doing some soul searching and doesn't want to be interrupted, right? So, we can change the subject" I lied very poorly, but hopefully they will buy it.

"But why would Chihiro want to keep that from us? We could help her find out about herself!" Kiyotaka responded to my lie with full force.

I decided to continue my lie, just to get them of her back "Because she didn't want to paint a target on her back. If you are going though emotional trouble, then you don't think straight and it's easier for you to make mistakes and stress will only worsen that, and Chihiro doesn't want to take that chance"

Kiyotaka remained silent for a few seconds, before shouting at the top of his lungs "That is fine then. I will not force her to do what she does not want to do. However, I still recommend you talk to someone about your issues Chihiro, it will help you be happier, but please accept my apologies anyway." Kiyotaka is always so sincere when he talks, I honestly feel kind of bad for lying at him, though it was for a good reason, so I'm sure he won't hate me for it. Chihiro forgave him anyway and the conversation grew a new, with a new person starting it off.

"So then, do you have any plans to stop the murders before they happen?" Sakura said trying to break the silence.

"Maybe it's better for us to do nothing." Kyoko said without any trace of emotion, catching everyone off-guard. Do nothing, what does she mean? I hope she knows what she's talking about.

"W-Wait, so you're just saying we should be sitting ducks for whoever wants to kill?" Toko said in a justifiable panic.

"No, what I'm saying is if we try to take action anyway, we'll die due to the school rules and if we try killing, then who would volunteer to die, and would it be so easy to just kill and get out? If we stay here and not kill, maybe there's a chance that Monokuma will slip up and we can escape." Kyoko said calmly. I think I get what she's trying to say though, it's better than the alternative, although what she said next sent chills down everyone's spine "Even if we took precautions to stop a murder, it wouldn't work. Someone will break, and they will try to murder someone else, keep yourselves safe first, then worry about other people." After that, which part of seemed to be directed at me, she walked off leaving the cafeteria in a state of pure silence. Everyone said their farewells and headed off. I should get myself something to eat though.

Heading into the kitchen, it was surprisingly basic compared to what I'm expecting, but it's a strangely pleasant reminder of the real world. However, as I got some fruit from the fridge, a familiar voice came in.

"Thank you" Chihiro said quietly, still quite nervous from the meeting earlier. However, a smile soon grew on her face as she kept on talking "I mean, we haven't even known each other for a week and you've been so nice to me. I mean you've listened to me talk about my friends and family, gave me nice gifts and you even lied for me. Honestly, I don't know what I could do to repay you, so I'm sorry about that."

Cutting up some apples, I replied "Chihiro, it's fine. Honestly, I don't know your secret, but we've all got stuff we want to hide right, there's no shame in it. Listen, we've still got a few hours before Monokuma gives us the motive. If you want, we can just sit and talk like yesterday if you want. Hopefully a little less depressing than before, but it's always nice to spend time with people you care about."

Chihiro nodded and took a seat at the table we sat at yesterday. After making an extra bowl for her, I sat at the table and we began to talk.

"So, how was that Unending Dandelion gift you got?" I asked, trying to get somewhere, since I'm running out of ideas.

"It's really fun! I kind of just want to put it though my hair, so whenever I get bored in public, I can just get it out and play with it. I was in my room playing with it and I somehow wasted 2 hours doing so it was just so mesmerising I couldn't stop!" Chihiro said with a huge smile on her face that somehow made me feel even happier.

My response was as basic as it gets "Well I'm glad you enjoyed it" which is a little embarrassing, but I guess it fits.

Chihiro, smiling back, responded "I was going to get you a gift, but then I realized I could make it even better, so I'll give it to you when it's done OK!"

I didn't expect that, but now I'm excited for her to finish it, as silly as that sounds. But a gift improved by the Ultimate Programmer must be something amazing right! "Really! Thank you so much Chihiro!" I yelled out louder than I expected my voice to go, shocking the poor programmer.

"Err, no problem Makoto" replied a taken aback Chihiro, who decided to change the subject, "Do you ever feel powerless Makoto? Like where you want to stand up to yourself and you just can't." She had a sad look in her eyes when she said this, I can tell that this is something that isn't recent. I better be careful on how I answer this.

I took a deep breath and replied "Apart from right now, I don't think I've had too much trouble with that. But if the feeling you're describing is like the one I have right now... then I'm sorry." Chihiro's face turned into a mixture of shock and surprised, "To feel like you can't do anything even you want to help others or yourself, if what I think had happened to you, did happen, then I'm so sorry." Chihiro looks a little depressed now, can't say I blame her. Alright, maybe I should ask something a little more cheerful. "Hey, what do you think of everyone?"

"You mean if I like them or not? Makoto it's rude to talk about others behind their back!" Chihiro replied in an upset tone. Clearly this was not the best subject to talk about, but at least I got us off that subject. But we now have nothing to talk about! Chihiro seemed to realize this as she told me "How about we talk later. I want to say hello to everyone else before the motive hits and I could use sometime by myself to finish your gift. I might not be done until after nighttime, so I'll give it to you then. Deal?"

"OK, to be honest, I kind of want to say hi to everyone else as well. Maybe you'll also get more use out of this"

Choose a gift!

  1. Tips & Tips



We said our farewells and headed off in our own directions. At least this time we ended on a more positive note. I want to say hi to other people. So, I guess this is my free time then?

As I walk around, I heard Kyoko behind me "So you'd lie to protect someone you care about. Interesting. However, I think we both know you're really bad at it." And then she walked off. Still I would be surprised if no one else noticed. I decided to keep on walking. Kyoko's kind of odd sometimes.

I headed to the gym to see if anyone was there and to my surprise I saw Hina there by herself. "Hina! How are you doing!"

The tan girl replied with "Oh, Makoto! I'm fine thanks! Hey, you want to hang out? Sakura said she wanted to be by herself for a while, so I've got nothing to do."

"Took the words right out of my mouth. What do you want to do?"

"Maybe just a bunch of exercise. Without a pool here, it's kind of boring. So wanna try excising. I'll try and go easy on you!" Hina replied in a tone that surprisingly didn't feel like I was being mocked. However, I don't think she knew was wasn't easy for me, I ended up doing 100 pushups and then 100 sit ups. Needless to say, my body was aching at the end. Luckily Hina showed me some mercy and took me to the cafeteria. Then, since we had nothing else to do, we decided to just have a nice chat.

"So, how did you become the Ultimate Swimming Pro then Hina?" I began to ask, to which Hina beamed with energy.

"Well, it's because at middle school, I joined all of the sports clubs! At my old middle school, we did a lot of intense competitions and I ended up winning all of the swimming ones. Guess Hope's Peak saw that and allowed me to join up." she explained to me.

"Wait, all of them? Well, how many were there in total?" I questioned, maybe because they were so competitive, they would do only a few so then they can win those ones all of the time.

"Oh, about six or so" Hina stated casually.

"SIX?" I parroted in shock. I should not do anything to upset this person, she is obviously stronger than she looks and could easily beat me up. "How in the heck do you do all of those sports and not be constantly tried!"

"Dounts of course! Gotta eat food with lots of sugar to keep my energy up! Otherwise I'll become all tired and mopey, and I don't want to do that, life's no fun when you're bored all of the time."  She explained, which answers the question of why she eats so many dounts and other foods in general. I guess the sports explain why she looks so fit despite eating more than twice as much as me, although I'd be really dumb to say that out loud. Hina didn't seem to want to stop talking though, as she questioned, "Hey, so I've got to ask you something really really important OK?"

"Sure, shoot."

"Do you like Chihiro more, or Sayaka?" Hina asked innocently, although I get the feeling she knew exactly what she was doing. I could feel the biggest blush in the world coming on my face, and seeing how she reacted, I think she saw it too because she started giggling uncontrollably.

"Everyone please come to the AV room right away!" I'm not sure if this was good luck or bad luck, but it gave me an excuse to get out of there as fast as humanly possible. So, I ran to the AV Room, which had a lot of DVD players, surprisingly enough I was the first one there, although everyone else came shortly after, Hina was still laughing, unfortunately.

"Hey there! Santa Claws has come early this year! I brought you all gifts with lots of love and bear hugs. Take yours and watch it! That's all for now, I don't trust you crazy kids with my beautiful body yet." Monokuma quickly explained, which wasn't pleasant. But we did as he said, just to be safe, although I don't know if I'm doing the right thing.

The video showed of my family, sitting down and congratulating me for getting into Hope's Peak. It seems normal and then the voice of Monokuma appears stating the obvious, however, the video cuts to static and shows my house in shambles, with a very recognizable voice blasting into my eardrums. "Do you want to know what happened? Well don't worry, you can find out at your graduation! BWAHAHAHAHA!" The laugh ran though my head for what felt like hours. Everyone had very different reactions to it.

"I have to go work, just work work work, just forget about it by work..." Chihiro said as she rushed out of the room, openly crying.

"HUH? How in the, why in the... Ha-ha... my family just agreed to do this as a prank right" Hifumi said, clearly trying to avoid the truth.

"Of course! Like I said, this is one big prank!" Yasuhiro said with full confidence. All this did was cause a debate to start. However, I felt like I had more pressing matters, as Sayaka stood still in shock, and then ran out in a panic, screaming.

"Sayaka!" I called out rushing after her. She ended up running to Class Room 1-A, the same one I ended up waking up in, but there's no time for nostalgia, I've got to help her though this! But, I'm not sure where to start. "Monokuma showed you something awful as well, didn't he?"  Sayaka nodded her head slowly as I walked slowly to try and help, however she then suddenly ran over and hugged me tight, for comfort I suppose. I was caught off guard by it, but decided to hug her back, to see if it would help her calm down. Luckily her breathing slowed down a bit and we both let go of each other.

"I'm sorry for making a scene, I just couldn't take what was on the screen. My friends, my bandmates... they were just lying there. Listen, I did a lot of things to get to where I am today, and just to have that taken away. I just, I can't I... I have to get out of here, I have to make sure they're OK!" Sayaka was sobbing uncontrollably at this point. I should say something to calm her down.

"Listen, we are going to be fine. Monokuma can't do anything to us without us breaking the rules and if we don't kill, we will get out of here, we all will and if you're scared or worried, let me know. We all want to help Sayaka, and we're not murderers. Besides, maybe Hiro and Hifumi are right, maybe this is just a sick joke. Then we can all go home afterwards, right?" I'm not very good at this, but it seemed to do its job as Sayaka's smile returned to her face.

"Makoto, thank you for that. I, I know they're OK, I've just got to believe right! Well I'll believe with all my heart! Although, if I need anything, you'll help me. Right?" I nodded my head almost automatically and she smiled "Thank you! I'm gonna go talk to everyone else I guess, to see if I can help them in anyway. See you soon!".

Cheering Sayaka up ended up being a lot easier than I expected, I think she's still upset, but she's going to get better. I just hope that she doesn't do anything drastic. But still, there's only a few hours left until nighttime. I wonder who's out and about?

I opened the gym door and found Kiyotaka trying to make a speech on the stage. I thought it would be best to leave him to it, but then he called me up. "Ah, Makoto! Good to see you again! Hey, you make some great speeches you know that, so please may you teach me! If it is not a problem that is!" So that's how I got roped into talking about speeches I made.

"I just speak from the heart, there's no need for scripts or anything Kiyotaka."

"Yes, but what happens if you forget the words halfway through!"

"You can always improvise. For example, in the "I have a dream" speech that was made by Martin Luther King Jr, the "I have a dream" was improvised!"

"Of course! I completely forgot about that, please forgive me Makoto!"

"It's fine Kiyotaka, really. We all make mistakes, just don't let it push you down so much."

"I suppose you are correct." His usually loud and bombastic voice went quieter "Would you mind if I told you a bit about myself?"

"Of course not! Kiyotaka, you don't have to be worried about anything!"

"Alright. I am the grandson of Toranosuke Ishimaru and that man was once Prime Minster of Japan, however he was also a genius, he could do anything he wanted without putting in the hard work required. After a certain... incident, he was forced to step down and the Ishimaru name was never the same. I want to regain our honor and put in the hard work he never did. I want to lead our country to a new greatness where hard work will prevail over anything else, I want the world to see what the common man can do anything as long as they put the hard work and determination in to it." He was somber as he said this, I never knew how much he was carrying and why he tried so hard. It makes me feel awful being in his presence.

"Well, with the work you put in, you definitely deserve to be here with everyone, and I'd bet you'd make a great Prime Minster" I replied quietly

"Makoto Naegi, are you quite alright? You look really down... as the Ultimate Moral Compass, it is my job to make sure my classmates are OK!" He said, his voice getting slightly louder. A part of me doesn't want to tell him, but at the same time, I can't lie to him after he said all that... I should just be honest.

"I don't belong here, at Hope's Peak. Everyone here has enough talent and hard work to justify them being here and they all have dreams and ambitions, they all worked towards them. Meanwhile, I just get a letter saying 'congrats, you get a free pass to the biggest school in the world'. I'm am the exact opposite from what you are. You worked your way up from rock bottom, you earned your spot here and me I jus-"

"That's enough of that Makoto!" Kiyotaka interrupted me as I was rambling on, as he wanted to say something "You may not be the best of the best, but that is fine. You are Makoto Naegi am I correct? You are your own person and you can show the world that when given the chance, anyone can change the world, even the common man. You have your own family to make proud right! Then listen to me! Work hard for them, make the Naegi name a name to be remembered throughout time. Even if you feel you cannot do it, I assure you, I will help you every step of the way! Besides, I do not mean to be rude or impose anything on you, but the way you can be down to earth with the common man and yet give speeches from the bottom of your heart would make you a great Politian, maybe we should work together to change the world in the future! HAHA!" Kiyotaka said with a booming voice. He really is fit to lead, and he easily made me cheer up. No wonder he's the Ultimate Moral Compass.

"Kiyotaka... thank you. I promise you, I will try my hardest to change the world, even if it's just a small amount!" All I could feel was happiness right now, and I don't understand why that is. Is that how people feel when I give speeches? "Also, you asked earlier about how to make speeches from the heart, I'd say your already a master at it"

"HAHA! Why thank you Makoto. It has been fun talking to you and learning how to make great speeches. However, it is almost nighttime, so why don't we head to bed!" Kiyotaka replied in his usual jolly voice. So, we both walked back to the dorms and went into our beds. The nighttime announcement played once more

"It is now 10pm and that means it's officially nighttime. Some areas will be closing soon so please leave them as soon as possible!" It's worrying that I'm starting to get used to his voice, and somehow him not appearing right afterwards is even more terrifying... I'm just overthinking this, no one is gonna die!

My doorbell rang. Wonder who it could be? As I walked over, I saw Sayaka waiting outside.

"Hey Makoto, mind if I ask you a small favor..." she asked quietly and cautiously. Before I could answer, she asked what she wanted "Can we switch rooms for the night... Sorry if this is a big ask, I'm just nervous and I think this will help me sleep a little bit"

Almost automatically I replied "Of course! If it'll help you, then I'm fine with it." Sayaka smiled in response to this and got out her key as she explained,

"Alright then. We'll need to switch keys. So, here's mine and I'll take yours, OK! I'll give them back after the night is over. Also, you sound much happier than before, glad to see you are settling in now!" She was practically beaming as she said that last sentence, and I suppose it is true, I am happier than before. Glad to see that is making everyone else happier. I should tell her about the bathroom though before I leave for the night.

"Hey, by the way, the bathroom works a little weirdly. You have to push the knob down while twisting it, just in case you need to do anything in there I guess." Sayaka nodded in response and we both left to our new rooms.

Sayaka's room has a lot of features making it fit for the Ultimate Pop Sensation, like posters everywhere and a microphone set. I suppose it is time to get some rest, I'll see everyone tomorrow morning.

Day 3/14 Finished!

...

...

...

My doorbell is ring. At this time of night, in this murder school and all outside my room? Just my luck I suppose, I went over and saw a pleasant surprise.

"Sorry for interrupting at this hour, but I couldn't wait to give you your gift! So here you go!" Chihiro was outside my door, holding a wrapped present. Although it was a little sloppy in that wrapping, I'm guessing she used what she had. I opened the little box and found a Funplane, the biggest console of the last generation, already opened.

"Thank you so much Chihiro! But if you don't mind me asking, why is it open?" I asked politely as I could.

"Remember when I said I wanted to make some improvements? This is what I meant. Chiaki gave me a USB of lots of games when we were younger, so I made some menu improvements with my own skills and then put the games onto the system! So now you won't get bored!" Chihiro stated proudly, as she held up a small hairpin with a pixel art style. It took everything I had not to run up to her and hug her in appreciation. "Huh! Makoto do you not like it? I'm sorry if you just wanted it plane, I wasn't thinking and I-"

"Chihiro, thank you so much! You didn't have to do this you know. But I'm entirely grateful, no matter what happens!" I was crying tears of joy at this point. Maybe it's because I wasn't expecting so much kindness from someone I just met, maybe it's because Kiyotaka's speech also inspired me to be more emotional, subconsciously I guess, or maybe it's because- wait why exactly is she here? "Hey Chihiro?" I wiped my eyes as I put the gift down.

"Yes, Makoto?" Chihiro replied, somewhat shocked at the sudden change in attitude I had.

"How exactly are you here? You never said anything about what I'm doing right now?"

"Huh? Are you doing something bad? Sorry if you didn't want me here, I'll go back to my room if you want." Chihiro asked, tearing up as she felt like she was in the wrong here.

"No, you've done nothing wrong... It's just that me and Sayaka switched rooms for the night, so I'm just confused as to how you're here."

"Hehehe, Makoto, is this some sort of prank? You're clearly sleeping in your own room silly! Even your room tag says 'Makoto'" Chihiro giggled, not realizing the state of panic I was in. Something's wrong, Sayaka why would you change the room tags... what is going on... "Makoto, are you OK!" Chihiro yelled, bring me down to earth.

Quietly, I replied, "I'm checking on Sayaka, I need some answers"

"If you don't mind, I'll come with you, you seem pretty worried, so I want to make sure you both are OK!" Chihiro said as she started to follow behind me.

I rang her doorbell. No response... I did it again. Still no response. I opened the door to find the room in shambles, Chihiro gasps in horror behind me. We walk slowly throughout the room, finding more and more carnage. The sword I got was slashed up and the walls had slashes everywhere. There was no weapon in sight that could have done this. There's blood splattered on the ground... I turn towards the bathroom... I gently open the door.

There are sights that people see that can change them. Someone performing a magic trick on a huge scale might inspire someone else to do magic tricks for a living. Seeing a rocket fly into space for the first time or seeing huge amounts of butterflies fly around in a beautiful pattern. At the same time, there are sights that can change people for the worse, there's nothing more terrifying and traumatising than seeing someone you care about in deep pain, or even worse dead.

Sayaka Maizono, the Ultimate Pop Sensation had one of her hands holding the other one as she was collapsed in the bathroom. She wasn't moving, she wasn't breathing... It was clear to me. She was dead, the Killing Game had just begun.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO A BODY HAS BEEN DISCOVERED! Sayaka's OK I guess. Don't love her or hate her, I understand why she did it and can sympathise with her. But someone's gotta die first and she's the someone. Still her death is effective in telling me "Hey, this ain't no Ace Attorney pal!", since I fell for that trap hook, line and skinnier. I'm still worried about representing everyone well and stuff, and that's not fun. This chapter took a bit longer for me to write than the previous two. Also a fun fact, I was going to have Junko instead of Kiyotaka as the second free time event, but then I realised, I have no idea on how to write her. Besides I really like all of the characters that got free time events so far. Maybe in the future. Deadly life's coming up next so hope you enjoy, because I sure am! But for now, I've got a murder to plan.


	4. Chapter 4: Deadly Life Begins!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first body has been discovred so everyone's investigating now. This should be fun.

Sayaka was just slumped on the side of my bathroom wall. She held her right hand over her left hand Chihiro saw the body and screamed in terror meanwhile, I only managed to get a whimper out "Sayaka... Why?" Before I fell unconscious.

  
... Am I dreaming right now, I must be right? Still it's pretty weird since I'm in Sayaka's bed. Sayaka's just sitting there, on her bed and squeezing my hand. Meanwhile Chihiro's just reading the Tips and Tips book. But I know what I saw, Sayaka's dead and she's not coming back. It's my fault, it's all my fault. If I hadn't swapped rooms, she never would have gotten attacked. This isn't a fake story anymore, all hope of that happening went right out of the window. Monokuma got what he wanted, murder. I feel like I'm losing my will to continue, fight, if this isn't a dream then it shows how much I'm thinking about the worst things to happen, how little hope I have. I can't, I can't live like this.

  
"Makoto?" Sayaka said quietly. I guess she realized I woke up. "Are you OK? You kept repeating the words 'I can't live like this'" How am I supposed to respond to that, guess I should just be honest.

  
"Honestly no. I just saw the dead body of someone I cared about, and that's driven me to the point of insanity after me seeing their dead body. How long until I wake up?" Maybe I was a little blunt, but I don't care. When I get back to the real world, I can be nice.

  
Putting her book down, Chihiro sat up and told me, "Sayaka isn't dead, and you're not sleeping. But..." Her voice is trailing off, but I didn't really want to focus on that, as I felt I had more pressing matters to attend to.

  
"You're not dead!? How! You weren't breathing, there was blood everywhere, my room was in shambles!" Before I could get explanation though, Sayaka told me.

  
"We don't have time to talk about that... While you were unconscious, something happened, and we need you to come with us."

  
I nodded my head and we went down to the hall. We went into a room that was open surprisingly. There were already people there. Sayaka nodded at them and they let me to the bathroom. I'm getting serious déjà vu at this and it's making me really uncomfortable.

  
I opened the bathroom door. Sometimes when you experience two things in a row, it can get boring, although when that happens, it's most likely because they took a long time to happen. When you experience two quick things happening in a row, it can be nice or annoying. Seeing a dead body twice in a day, isn't something anyone should have to endure, but the fact is, we are in a killing game now. Yasuhiro Hagakure, the Ultimate Clairvoyant, you can't deny it any, longer can you?

  
His body was in a disturbingly similar fashion to Sayaka's when we found her, but instead his arms were slumped next to him and there was a bloodstream coming out of his heart. In addition, he was no longer wearing his jacket. Lastly there was a somewhat recognizable smell in the bathroom, but I'm unsure of what it is. I can't look away, there's no way out of this, he's dead.

  
"Hey hello kids! How are you this fine nighttime, because I'm the happy happiest I've been in a beary long time, we've got a murder and this game is starting to pick up the pace!" Monokuma was standing in Yasuhiro's room and on his bed, I suppose it's the only way he can look at us in the eyes.

  
Byakuya was the first one to speak up, "So what happens now Monokuma? Does whomever killed the plant haired idiot get to go free?"

  
"Hey dude, show some respect. The man's dead body is right next to you" Mondo spoke up, however Monokuma continued talking.

  
"You'd like it if it was that simple wouldn't you, but nope that would be boring! After all, there's no challenge in killing someone and leaving. Especially people like Fujisaki around, seriously that kid has been survivi-"

  
"Shut up and just say what you want to say Monokuma. You don't have to insult everyone that comes your way, especially if they did nothing to deserve it." I don't think I've even been this seething in my life, it's taking everything I have in order to not break the fifth rule.

  
"Alright, alright. Average Joe is right though, I should get a move on. You all have some time to investigate the murder, information on the case will be put into the Monopad. After that time runs out, you have to figure out whodunit. If you fail, you all die, if you win, only the blackened will be killed. By the way, when I say Blackened, I mean murderer. Just a heads up. Good luck, you'll need it. Time starts the second I leave this room." Monokuma said in his usual sinister yet joyful tone. After this he simply left the room, showing that our time for fun and games was over. It was time for action and if we wanted to live to see the next day, then we would have to find out who was Yasuhiro's killer. I know it wasn't me, but how do I convince everyone on that, do people even suspect me? I should check the Monopad before anything.

  
INVESTIGATION BEGIN!

  
The victim was Yasuhiro Hagakure, who was confirmed dead at 11.00pm in his bathroom. The murder weapon is the stab wound coming from his heart, there are no other major wounds on his body.  
So that doesn't give out much information. What would be a good thing to do first? Maybe gather alibis while we're all here? OK, that's what we'll do first!

  
"Hey, while we still have everyone around. Shouldn't we gather alibis or something" I suggested quickly.

  
"While in a normal case this would be helpful, this was at nighttime, so most of us don't have concrete alibis anyway. But getting the suspect list down is always going to be helpful, so I see no harm."

Kyoko said calmly, and she continued with "Does anyone have an alibi, as in were they with someone else at the time of the murder?"

Byakuya, Toko, Leon, Hifumi, Kyoko, Kiyotaka, Mondo, Celeste and Junko all stayed quiet. Hina spoke up first, "Um, me and Sakura decided to talk things out and we were talking from nighttime until the body discovery announcement, so we can back up or alibis."

"I can confirm this" Sakura replied.

  
I might have an alibi, but I'd need to confirm something first. "Something happened earlier on tonight that made me go unconscious for a while, but I don't know the exact times of when I fell. So Chihiro, what time did we find Sayaka again?" Everyone looked at me with a puzzling glance, expect for Sayaka and Chihiro who looked shocked at what I said. "D-Did I say something wrong?"

  
"It's nothing Makoto, I came to your room at around 10.30pm so the latest we found Sayaka would have been 10.45pm, so I think that counts as an alibi." Chihiro said, while sighing. However, Byakuya wasn't so certain.

  
"How do we know if Makoto really was sleeping?" He's really blunt, but in this situation, I can't exactly blame him.

  
"The body discovery announcement. Monokuma told us to go to the Gym and then he said this, 'Guess nearly everyone is here. Although I am surprised AJ is still sleeping, but since I found his response funny, I'll allow it. Anyway...' I thought it was weird how he said something about that and didn't let us ask about it. Now I know why" Kyoko said, making Byakuya satisfied... I think. "Two things, one, who was the first to find the body and secondly, we should have 2 people watching the crime scene. If one of them is the murder, this won't work, but two people can't be the killer, so any volunteers?"  
Leon spoke up, "That was me, I found Hiro dead."

  
Toko responded, "W-What in hell's name were you doing at almost midnight? Were you planning to a-attack anyone? Or a-are you gonna be like Makoto and sleep with two girls?!" That last sentence was completely unneeded thank you very much, now I've got a blush coming on and I don't like it.

  
Leon responded in kind, "No way man! I was just... sleep walking, yeah that's it!"

  
Hifumi was the next to argue, "That seems like a very convenient excuse, how would you know to come out at this time and why would you go into Hiro's room?"

  
Leon was getting very clearly panicked, "Well, I mean, I just saw someone coming out of Hiro's room and didn't hear Hiro locking his door, so I went over to his room and found him dead, that's all there is too it I swear!"

  
Kyoko then stop the conversation, "This is getting out of hand, we don't have much time to investigate as it is and you're wasting time arguing. So, onto my second point who will stay behind to guard the crime scene." She was surprisingly calm as she said this. I would be annoyed if I were in her shoes.

  
"Then I'll do it. Like I think I wouldn't be very good at investigating anyway, and I could beat up anyone who tries to mess with me or the crime scene." Mondo said, almost immediately, followed by Sakura who calmly said.

  
"I suppose it would be a smart idea for me to stay behind as well. I wish you all the best of luck going forward."

  
Now we know who's staying behind to keep an eye on everything, I should make a quick suggestion. "We should investigate in teams. Pairs would work, or maybe groups of three just to keep things safe? Maybe if the culprit went off by themselves, they could hide evidence which would make it, so we couldn't find them later. It's not that I don't trust anyone, it's just that at this point, one of us is most definitely the killer." Kyoko was the one to counter point my argument, surprisingly enough.

  
"However, we may not get everywhere in time, and besides some of us work better alone." After this, she walked out of the room, before I could counter her point. Sakura then spoke up, being her usual calm self.

  
"If you all would not mind, we should limit the amount of people in this room. It could get crowed and it would be tough to investigate." Everyone nodded in agreement.

  
"Hmph, then I shall ask all of you once, get out so then I may survey this area" Byakuya said with a forceful voice. I decided to head out for now, I can always investigate the area later.

  
But now I've got to think of places to investigate and things to find out about. Why Sayaka was in her room and hurt is a question that I want answering. But I've also got to figure out what was that smell, I remember it, but I've never smelt it in the school and lastly, do we know where the murder weapon went? The door opened behind me and the first person out was Chihiro, I could hear shouting from Leon in there, so I could understand why she'd want to leave. I should make some conversation. "...Hey"

  
"Hi..." she was very clearly crying, seeing a dead body doesn't invite the best emotional response, I would know. "I'm sorry, I can't deal with this right now..." I want to help her though this, but how? I've got it.

  
"Hey, why don't you come with me?" I asked politely as I could manage.

  
"Huh? But why me? I know nothing about this type of crime! All I know about are hackers, and even that's small scale compared to murder!" Chihiro questioned, as she was very surprised at my question. Suppose I should give an honest answer.

  
I put my hand on her shoulder and crouched a little so then I could look into her eyes and told her "It's not about that. It's because I believe in you and I want to help us both get through this, even if you don't think you'll be useful, I know you will. Even something small can help us out in a big way. Besides I think you need to be with someone you can trust right now, and I have an airtight alibi right!" Her eyes were still wet with tears, but they almost had hope in them as well.

  
"OK! I'll do my best to help out then, I try not to let you down!" Chihiro said with a surprising amount of confidence. I could feel a smile growing on my face, while I don't think either of us were alone per say, it was a good feeling knowing we had each other's backs. I feel I should start us off then.

  
"Hey, if you don't have any ideas right now, let's head to the cafeteria." Chihiro nodded in response and we went inside. Luckily it was unlocked. The kitchen was our first location. "Alright, last time I got the knives they were here..." I said as I went over to the knife holder.

  
"Two knives are gone. Wouldn't the culprit only need one though?" Chihiro said as she followed behind me. It is as she said, two knives have gone missing. They were the two smallest knives, so I'm guessing those types are the most practical. I suppose a giant knife would be pointless to take, but even so, why were there two knives taken? Either both the victim and the culprit had a knife to defend themselves or...

  
"I GOT IT! There must have been two separate attacks that happened tonight. Yasuhiro was totally calm about everything do to with the killing game life, there's no way he'd take a knife! But then if that's the case, then where did the other one take place?"

  
Chihiro answered my question in a heartbeat, "The one in your room. I don't know much about it, but Sayaka really didn't want anyone else to know about it. She didn't want to tell me anything about what had happened, although she didn't kill Yasuhiro, me and her were waiting for you to get up until the body was found. If you want information on that attack, you'd have to ask her. We really don't have any other leads though, so maybe we should just look all over the school to see if anything's out of place?"

  
"That's a good idea, we should also look for Yasuhiro's jacket. It wasn't on his body and I find it odd that it would go missing after he died, unless someone hid it." Chihiro nodded and we searched the school for a bit. There were no clothes in the washing room or even in the washing machines, which means they couldn't have been washed at least. So, the culprit could have only gotten rid of his jacket by burning it! Or maybe they just threw it into the trash. The latter is way less exciting than the former.

  
My room hasn't changed since I fainted. Wonder if there's anything to show that someone else was here, it could clear something up later. Although I did notice some of the gold on the sword is gone. "Hey Chihiro, why did Sayaka appear dead, or at least how did she get from the floor to her bedroom?"

  
Chihiro and I were scanning the room for clues and I heard her say "She woke up after she heard you whisper her name, I think she was faking her death..." Chihiro gave out a huge sigh before saying this, "because she was trying to protect herself from a killer. It doesn't look like it, but I think she's broken her wrist, likely in self-defense. I'm not sure how the killer even got into her room unless she let them in, but then the problem is, why would she do that?"

  
"That's the thing. I'm not sure. Would it be possible to open up the room without a key?" I asked, although I wasn't really expecting an answer so suddenly.

  
"Nope!" Monokuma said as he appeared from nowhere and left just as fast.

  
"Well that answers that" Well if there's Monokuma, bad emotions are gonna follow I guess. I opened the bathroom door to find something shocking. "WHY THE HECK IS THERE A KNIFE IN MY BATHROOM!"

  
I wasn't exactly subtle about my feeling here, causing Chihiro to jump up in shock behind me "Huh!? When I checked the bathroom last time it wasn't here, but Sayaka wanted me to leave the room really quickly, so I may have missed it. Wait... why would there be a knife here in the first place. Wouldn't her attacker want to take it?"

  
"That is weird, but for now, I don't think it's going help out in the case." I put my hand on my forehead, trying to think of what to do next. Then I put my thoughts into words if see if it was a good idea. "I think we should head to the trash room, and then check Yasuhiro's room. Then if we have spare time, we can try to find out what everyone else was doing, and why my room was a mess."

  
"I don't think we should tell anyone about this. I've been thinking about it, and if what I think happened did happen, it's not going to end well for everyone. I think Sayaka attempted to kill someone and frame it on you. It explains the room swap, why someone else was able to get in and why she wanted me and you to get out as soon as possible. Even if I don't tell anyone else, even if it's not true, what happens if everyone else assumes it and attacks her for it." She's starting to tear up, doubting Sayaka is clearly painful for her... and for me too.

  
I put my hand on her shoulder for the second time in one night, I honestly don't know what to do at this point, but I still want to try and comfort her. "Let's put that aside for now. We've still got to deal with Yasuhiro and his death first. Then we can talk to Sayaka and sort this out, OK?" She nodded, and we headed to the trash room. One thing I noticed is that it was warmer in there than anywhere else, so did Chihiro and Kyoko, who was there as well. Another thing was some shattered glass by the side of the button, which was strange to say the least.

  
"Hmm, did either of you choose to take down the trash recently?" Kyoko asked automatically and monotone like.

  
"No, sorry if that wasn't the answer you were looking for" Chihiro said quietly.

  
"Neither have I... Have you asked this question to everyone that has come into this room?" I asked her calmly.

  
"That would be correct. Due to the fact that the furnace has been heated up, as you can tell by the heat the room is giving off, I can only assume whomever choose to take out the trash is the only one who could have committed the crime. In case you're wondering, I've asked everyone here. So, it seems my idea was right on the money. I'm afraid I'm going to have to do something I'll regret sooner or later." Kyoko said calmly before walking up to us. I wondered what she was talking about, until she started to give me a body search, thankfully without the taking off clothes. But I could tell I my face was going red. Thankfully it stopped as soon as it was started but that was a troubling experience. She looked at Chihiro for a second, and Chihiro went red right away however, she spared the other girl while saying, "There's no possible way you could of hid it on you." Chihiro breathed the biggest sigh of relief I've ever heard in my life. "Anyway, there's no one else investigating the room of the murder, so you two should investigate there until the trial starts. I wish you both the best of luck." After saying this, she walked off, I'm not sure of what's she’s planning but there's no time for that, we have to go to the room of the murder now!

  
We opened the door and found Sakura and Mondo waiting for us. Sakura spoke up "Hmm, I see you've decided to investigate the room now. Very well, I will tell you some other important tidbits if you request to hear them, but I will not intrude on your investigation." After we both nodded we went and look around in the room. The first thing of note is that there were no signs of a struggle in the inside of the room. This must mean that Yasuhiro let his attacker in voluntarily, his bed was messy, but no so much that it looks like there was an attack on there. "I can confirm that no one sat on the bed, so that mark was there from the beginning and is an effect from the attack" we checked all over the bedroom and the floor and we found nothing that stood out. We went into the bathroom and the smell that I originally smelt was still here. There were still no scratches or anything on the wall which means Yasuhiro didn't go down with a fight. Unfortunately, there wasn't much there that we didn't know about. Although something I did notice was off is that Yasuhiro's hair seems damp. I don't remember being able to use the toilet or anything during nighttime, so this is weird.

  
"Hey Makoto, I wondering, I know this smell, but I also know there's nothing in the school that could produce it, so maybe it came from the Monomono Machine? If we could figure out what smell it was then maybe, we could try and use it as a trap?" Chihiro said in a way that made it seem like she was thinking while she spoke.

  
"That's a great idea! Let's just hope my luck doesn't run out for once!" I replied with a surprisingly amount of enthusiasm. So, the two of us ran outside the room and into the store. Hifumi was there, trying to use the machine, however when he noticed me he backed off, letting me use it. I prayed for my luck to shine though as it seemingly did, as a Diet Cola dropped down from it. I already have one of these, so that's neat. Hifumi noticed and then his response was not one I was expecting.

  
"HUH! How did you manage to get it first try? It took me thirty tries to get it once and I haven't done it again! Are you cheating Makoto, you must be, so I'll take the Ultimate Prize of your hands as compensation! Hmph, no good cheating jerks" He snatched the bottle from me and left in a huff. Chihiro was about to call him out on it, but I stopped her.

  
Whispering into her ear, I said, "Listen, I have another one in my room, so this isn't a problem. I'll rush and get it, although I'm gonna have too hide it for a bit. This is still a little trap OK?"

  
Chihiro response was her usual little nod, so I ran over to my destroyed room and took out the bottle of Coke I was keeping in storage. Surprisingly, it didn't go off, but I doubt the Monomono machine would be appropriate storage for Cola anyway. That's when I heard an announcement. "Time's up kids! Please make your way towards the red door in the hallway and prepare for your first class trial! I'm sure plenty of you have figured out who the blackened is, after all they didn't leave too much evidence behind. but that evidence does stack up against them nicely, so what are you gonna do? I'm excited for this go get going!"

  
So, I went over to the red door and opened it to find everyone else was there before me... somehow. It's not the time to question this though as I stood in front of the elevator with 14 other students.

  
"Alright, does anyone want to confess now!" Kiyotaka spoke up almost immediately. The room stood still in silence.

  
"Sorry Kiyotaka. I don't think it'll be that easy." I responded with a sense of pity in my voice.

  
"Of course not. If someone murdered someone, then they will fight to get out, even you should know that." Byakuya coldly replied.

  
Leon responded to this as he usually would, "Man, why do you always have to be so much of a jerkass."

  
Celeste then responded to this calmly and creepily, "Leon dear, he's just being realistic. If you want to survive you can't blindly trust everyone here, because what happens if someone you care about gets murdered or becomes a murderer? You have to be to adapt to this, and if that means not trusting anyone, then you to be able to stand on your own two feet." The room was silent after this as I felt a shiver come up my spine. I'll have to talk to Sayaka after this, I need to be able to trust her. I really hope that she didn't just use me...

  
"We should get on the elevator before Monokuma attacks us once again." Sakura said, before walking on. She was followed by everyone else sans Chihiro and Kyoko.

  
"Makoto, thank you for letting me help you investigate. Even if I wasn't very helpful. I'll try and prove my weight in the trial." Chihiro said before heading off to the elevator with everyone else

  
Kyoko then spoke up. "If you want to survive you will have to pull your weight, however, I think you can do it. I wish you the best of luck" After this she went over to the elevator.

  
I was the last one to walk in. As soon as I stood in there, it went down.

  
Yasuhiro Hagakure, you never believed in the killing game. Sure, he may have just been stupid or in a lot of denial, but if we all thought like that, we wouldn't have started killing. Maybe that's why he did it, so then we might believe it wasn't true and we wouldn't kill. Sure, I didn't know him well, and my few interactions with him weren't the most positive, but I feel I still miss him and his silly hair.

  
But I can't avert my eyes from the truth, Monokuma trapped us in here and now has forced us to try and kill whomever killed Hiro. One of us here made a choice to kill Yasuhiro and now we have to show them why it was the wrong choice. Yasuhiro, we will avenge you.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, did I get ya? Sorry if you wanted Sayaka dead I guess. So I am kind of realising how little screen time some characters are going to get if I don't do something, but I'll plan something out! I think Makoto's character isn't going to be 100% faithful to his main game counterpart, so I'm really sorry if you like him. Also Yasuhiro, I like him I really do, but I could not think up who to kill off first since when I first started planning this, I realised Sayaka's plan might not end so well for her, well it ended better for her in the long term I feel. I should also say that this is my first time doing an investigation and the trial is going to be a little boring, but I'll make the future ones more interesting! Hope you enjoyed this though and have a nice day! :) Also the chapter number is going up to 7 even though this is the 4 and I'm very confused. ALSO I HATE BYAKUYA'S NAME I KEEP SPELLING IT WRONG ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!


	5. Deadly Life: The First Trial!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Killing Game has just begun! Yasuhiro Hagakure has been found dead in his own room and with such a little amount of evidence it's most likely going to be difficult to find the truth. Who killed him and Why, those questions may be answered shortly.

After what felt like forever, the elevator finally stopped. When we walked out, we were in a room that had a checkerboard pattern with red and black that had 16 podiums and seats that would be fit for a jury... if we had one. Monokuma was sat on a throne of sorts which had a button and a toy hammer, which was supposed to represent a gravel and a hammer I think? A voice that I hated and yet recognized so much started talking again. "Please take your seat at your designated podium and we'll get started! And make sure to do it quickly, you've only got one hour to find the culprit” Without complaining, we all walked over towards our podiums. On my left were stood Sayaka, Kiyotaka, Junko, Sakura, Kyoko, Mondo and Hina. Meanwhile on my right stood Hifumi, Toko, Leon, Celeste, Byakuya, Chihiro and a portrait of Yasuhiro with a third of an X on his face. After that stood an empty spot. But there was no time to wonder about that, we have an hour to find out who killed Yasuhiro. "Now then, time for an explanation of the Class Trial. It's your job to figure out whodunit and then you'll have to vote on who you think the blackened is, if you succeed, the blackened gets punished, however if you fail then you'll take the punishment instead and the blackened will escape. Now then, let's get this class trial rolling!"

  
I should set us off. "Alright, first of all, we should figure out who was in charge of the trash disposing. That's the only wa-"

  
"L-Leon's obviously the killer! He found the body first and he hasn't given a reason as to why he was up!" Toko said almost immediately.

  
"Meh, makes sense. The jerk probably set up the crime scene to be as plain as possible." Mondo said agreeing with the writer.

  
"Wait hold on! Why the heck would I tell everyone about the dead body then?" Leon said in a panic.

  
"Simple dude. You totally killed Yasuhiro and then found the body and told everyone about it to throw them off your trail. But we're too clever for that" Junko said calmly.

  
"Why would I do that!? Shouldn't I go all out if I want to cover up a murder!" Leon said in a panic. This is going nowhere fast. I should try to change the topic.

  
"Hey, I was knocked out for a while before the body was found so can we discuss what you did tonight Leon, however you have to be honest and to tell us everything. We need to know for sure if you are innocent. Also, can no one else interrupt him please? I'm out of the loop for this and would like to know." I said, somewhat forcefully but I think I wasn't too harsh.

  
Leon looked scared, but then said "Sure dude... If that's all you want then I'll help you out... Alright, I got up at around 10.15pm and headed out for about ten minutes. I went back to my room but couldn't sleep so I thought maybe doing some exercise or something would calm me down, this was at 10.45pm. After that, I saw a person coming out of Yasuhiro's room at about 10.55pm and I went to check up on him. I found him dead I went around frantically knocking on everyone's doors after that. It must have been 11pm when this happened. And that's all that happened I swear!" This isn't good. His story has two big gaps from 10.15-10.25 and one from 10.45-10.55. Unless he was the one that attacked Sayaka, then his second timeslot is prime time to kill someone. I could feel a bead of sweat coming down my face and I know it's only going to get worse from here.

  
Byakuya saw his chance to give Leon a strike, "Hmph, you do realize your account only serves to make you look even more guilty right. The second gap in times, the one from 10.45 onwards is a prime time to kill Yasuhiro isn't it?"

  
"Oh, come on Makoto! You knew this would happen didn't you, I didn't know you'd be this petty!" Leon shouted in a panic. Wait, does that mean?

  
"Leon, I understand your stress, but this is not Makoto's fault!" Kiyotaka stepped in to defend me, which was nice. But why would be call me petty?

  
"H-He's just jealous of Makoto because he g-got to sleep with two girls, isn't he?" Toko responded, but I can't pay attention to that! Think, think there's something I've got to piece together!

  
I closed my eyes and focused inside my head. I was on a grind rail for some reason and there were choices for where to go next depending on the answer, so I've got to pick the right one! 'What event other event happened tonight?' Easy, the attack on Sayaka. I jumped onto that rail and it seemed to work out OK! The next question popped up. 'What time could she off been attacked?' She must have taken a few minutes to change our name plates around and she came to me after the nighttime announcement, and Chihiro would have seen her attacker from 10.30 so it must have happened from 10.10 towards 10.25. Another right answer! The last question popped up. 'Who was out during that time frame?' The only person who was out at that time was Leon. All three questions were right. "THE ANSWER IS CLEAR!" I shouted with all my might, shocking everyone in the room, including Monokuma.

  
"W-What are you talking about!" Toko said in a panic.

  
Sorry Toko, but my train of thought could leave at any moment. "Leon, you called me 'petty' right, but you haven't done anything to me and I haven't done anything to you, is that correct?"

  
"I mean... yeah... I guess." Leon's sweating at an alarming rate.

  
"I think you're lying." I said calmly.

  
"But wait! Makoto he really hasn't done anything to you right? I'm sorry if I'm misremembering things but Leon and you have been somewhat close." Chihiro said in a panic, not realizing the answer I came up with.

  
"Hey Chihiro. Remember that theory you came up with in my room?" I said, as Chihiro took a second to realize what I meant, and she reacted in shock.

  
I should have phased that better as there was a reaction of "H-Huh!?" going around the class, except for Monokuma who was just giggling.

  
"Huh!? Are you saying Leon's the person that...”

  
"Yep. His timeline lines up perfectly with all of the other events that happened. But a quick question before I start detailing my theory. When you gave me my gift, were you reprogramming it until you gave it to me?" I need this information Chihiro... please.

  
"G-Gift?" Toko said, clearly getting the wrong idea.

  
"I see nothing shocking about friends giving each other gifts!" Kiyotaka said happily, not getting at what Toko meant at all.

  
"The gift itself is not important, well Chihiro. Did you?"

  
After a moment of silence, Chihiro spoke up, "Yes, I did. I haven't eaten much all day to be honest. I was planning on getting lunch but then the motive happened, and I just wanted to work on your gift and some other things as well."

  
"Very well, does anyone have any counterarguments against her testimony?" Silence, perfect. But first, "Sayaka, I'm so sorry."

  
"Huh? Why are you saying sorry to me?" She reacted in an extremely shocked fashion.

  
Quietly I responded, "You'll see..." After that I brought my voice back to normal levels and began explaining. "Tonight, I was planning to sleep in my own room. However, after the nighttime announcement I got an unexpected guest. Sayaka Maizono. She came into my room and requested to change rooms because she was frightened of the motive, so I agreed to swap rooms with her."

  
"Makoto, you agreed to that? I'm shocked, why would you do that. Swapping beds is usually not advised in a school environment!" Kiyotaka was being loud as usual.

  
"Sorry Kiyotaka. I just wanted to help someone I cared about, that's all." Sayaka's expression became more somber after this, which some people noticed. "So, I went to her bed without suspecting her. After a while I got a ring on my doorbell. I found Chihiro with her gift to me all wrapped up. This was at 10.30 She said nothing about finding Sayaka first, despite the fact we swapped rooms, when I asked her about it she responded that I was in my own room. Which was incorrect, as it turns out, mine and her name tags had been swapped. When we went to check on Sayaka, my room was in shambles, and I saw Sayaka dead. I fainted and didn't wake up until the investigation started."

  
"Interesting story Makoto dear, but what does this have to do with Leon?" Celeste said to me calmly.

  
"Simple, the times that Leon said line up perfectly. Chihiro never saw Sayaka's attacker and Sayaka would have to spend time to swap the name plates. Which places it around the time Leon said, and the reason he called me petty? Simple, he thought Sayaka told me about her attack and thought that I was trying to get back at him for it."

  
"Interesting theory, but you've got little to no proof to back it up. Unless you can do that, it will still be a theory, do you understand?" Celeste said calmly to me.

  
"You're correct. I've not no proof, but I've got two witnesses. Sayaka and Leon. I'm so sorry to the both you for accusing you of this and not trusting you, but please tell me the truth." Guys, I never wanted this, but please trust me on this.

  
Leon stood silent for a second, "... Alright, I yield. Sorry Sayaka, I knew you wanted to keep it from him, but at this point he has us cornered and lying would only hurt him further."

Sayaka started to cry very openly. "Makoto, I'm so sorry. I got scared and used you like a toy. I was going to kill Leon for my own selfish reasons, and have you take the blame for it. I had worked so hard, did things I can never take back in order to become what I am today, and I couldn't let that go, so I used your kindness to my advantage. I'm nothing more than a dirty snake!" Surprisingly Leon was helping her though this.

  
"It's OK Sayaka. We all make mistakes. I guess the reason I was out from 10.15 to 10.25 is obvious now. The other time was a little more complex. She trapped herself in her bathroom with a knife and I wanted to help her out, try to calm her down you know. So, what I did was I went back to my room and got the toolkit out, I tried to get the right one and just take that and when I did, I saw Sayaka and Chihiro helping Makoto after he fainted. I thought you guys could take it from there. Then the story continues as I saw someone coming out of Yasuhiro's room and then, well you know what happened next" He had a softness in his voice that I don't think I've heard before.

  
"While all very tragic and all, there's no proof that Sayaka and Leon's attack happened, she could just be trying to defend him." Byakuya said coldly. He's right, but I feel someone wouldn't do that to protect someone else. However, Leon said something that caught us all off guard.

  
"HEY! I've got more proof that I wasn't the killer and I'll show you right now!" He has more proof? "I even broke Sayaka's right wrist with a golden sword!" He said that almost like he was proud of his feat or something. This stunned us all into silence. I decided to make it work.

  
"Do you mean the sword that I put in my room?"

  
"Yep! In fact, Sayaka why don't you show your arm to prove all of this once and for all"

  
Sayaka looks a little uncomfortable at what he wants her to do, but she takes a deep breath and rolls up her right sleeve to show off a heavy bruise and some gold glitter. My theory has been proven right!

  
"While this is an interesting development Makoto, I must ask, how does this prove Leon isn't the killer?" Celeste said, catching me off guard. I hadn't thought about that. I need to come with something and fast! But I can't... anything I say will go against the fact I was saying something, this is where it ends?

  
"I wanted to calm my mind after remembering my motive video, so I took a walk outside. I saw Leon with a screwdriver and decided to head back into my room just in case. I didn't see anyone else, but this was at 10.50pm." Kyoko stated. This came out of nowhere!

  
The class's reaction was one of shock, as Byakuya said "Why would you bring that up now and not earlier?"

  
"I didn't want to draw attention to myself. I work better alone as I stated earlier, and I thought if I said I saw the prime suspect people would bother me." She said calmly.

  
"Hmph, seems like a lie to me" he replied coldly.

  
"Yes! I must agree with Mr. Togami, it seems far too convenient." Hifumi said proudly. This could be what I needed, I have to help her.

  
"Well we can't know it was really a truth or a lie. Why don't we look into it and see if there's any other possible suspects?" I responded.

  
"I like this train of thought quite a bit" Leon said, getting a lot more laid back now as there was a chance he isn't the murderer.

  
"Yeah, but like, what happens if it turns out to be a complete waste of time or Leon is really the blackened?" Junko replied to this.

  
"I-I think we should just vote for Leon. This thing seems like a big trap anyway!" Toko chimed in.

  
"But we shouldn't jump to a conclusion like that, especially when our lives are at stake." Kyoko said with an air of professionalism in her voice. Has she done this before?

  
"Besides, I don't think Kyoko would lie about this!" Chihiro added, however there was a response from someone I didn't expect.

  
"BWAHAHAHAHA! Oh, I love where this is going, this is a spilt decision I see here, is it, is it! Well then, I've been waiting to show this off! It's time for a Scrum Debate!" Monokuma yelled with a joyful tone to his voice.

  
Before we could ask what was going on, he held up a key and suddenly the button went up. He put the key in there and a choice appeared on the monitors on our podiums with two choices. "Kyoko is telling the Truth" or "Kyoko is Lying". Naturally I picked the former and then my podium went into the sky.

  
On my side were Kyoko, Leon, Sayaka, Chihiro, Hina and Sakura. Meanwhile on the other side was Junko, Celeste, Byakuya, Mondo, Toko, Hifumi and Kiyotaka surprisingly enough. So, we just have to prove Kyoko right and see where it goes from there. Alright, let's do this.

  
Junko started off her argument. "Like, there's no proof if Kyoko saw Leon though. We can't make assumptions in this, when our lives are at stake!"

  
Sakura was the first one to respond to this, "Technically speaking, there was never any proof that Leon saw the body first other than his own words."

  
The next one to speak was Byakuya, who responded with "Even so, at least he said it right away, not when it was most convenient."

  
Hina spoke up. "She had no reason to say it right away. She said she likes working alone!"

  
Mondo was next, "Even so, it's entirely possible that Makoto, Sayaka and Chihiro are lying to protect Leon"

  
Sayaka screamed at Mondo, in an anger that I hadn't heard from before, and I could see tears streaming down her face, "WHY WOULD I LIE ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT! ABOUT BREAKING SOMEONE'S TRUST AND MY WRIST!"

  
Toko while shocked at Sayaka's outburst, responded with "T-There's no proof that anyone else did commit the murder! We've got no other leads!"

  
Chihiro calmly responded, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but that's simply not true. We have a few leads, such as the Furnace, Hiro's Jacket and the smell coming off from his bathroom."

  
Hifumi in a panic, replied with, "But we don't have a lot of time to search random theories! What happens if time runs out and we don't know who to pick!"

  
My turn. With a smile coming on my face, I simply said, "Then if time runs out, we'll vote for whoever is the most guilty. There's no harm in checking out all the other evidence for a bit is there?" There was no response, did we win? "So, are we in agreement that Kyoko is telling the truth and we should examine the rest of the evidence?" I felt like I was in control of the situation and it felt pretty good to be honest.

  
After a few nods coming from both sides, Celeste responded with, "Very well, there is no harm in seeing if anyone else could have committed the crime. However, I must warn you, if we don't reach any leads before time is up, Leon will be voted for. Do you understand?" Calm and Creepy Celeste, as per usual.

  
"That is fine. We'll find the truth." Was my only reply for the moment. The podiums lowered to the ground. After that weird thing, we were on track to finding the culprit. The culprit is the person who could have used the furnace or had the key on them, so there's one person to ask. "Hey Monokuma, can I ask you a quick question?"

  
He looked confused as I don't think he was expecting to be involved in this trial. "Huh, you want my help? Well I can't just give you the blackened's name, that's not how this works!"

  
Hopefully he won't be too annoying. "Not that. Who was in charge of doing the trash deposing today."

  
Monokuma looked somewhat disappointed. How this is thing making expressions again? "Aww man, I wish you would have asked something more exciting. Well I can't tell you, because the person doing it asked me not too! Sorry I'm a bear of his word." Of course, whomever did this decided to ask Monokuma to keep his trap shut. The one time he could be useful. However, he shocked me in a way I didn't expect to be shocked. "However, I can say this. The person who asked me to do this, asked after the motive struck, but before the murder. And the furnace was activated by someone other than the person in charge of the trash collecting and deposing." I was going to ask who would do that, then someone else spoke up.

  
"Aww crap I forgot about that! Yeah, I used Hiro's crystal ball that he left in the washing room to burn my shirt. It had blood on and it was all ruined, so I decided to do that. The room was pretty darn cold though I will admit!" Leon said calmly. Oh, dear god no. The furnace being warm was my only clue to the fact that the murderer used it to burn Hiro's clothes and he turned it on and didn't turn it off! He just ruined the case didn't he. Damnit! I... Just... No... We've lost... All of it was pointless...

  
"Makoto? Are you OK!" Chihiro yelled in a state of panic.

"Oh, I'm fine I guess, just a little upset is all" I stated in a monotone voice.

  
"Makoto, if you are upset, you should speak your mind although do it in a calm and collected manner!" Kiyotaka added, in a voice that mixed with worried and stern. Glad to see that people care about me, but fine, I should speak my mind.

  
"Leon just ruined everything. My theory was, whoever turned on the furnace to make the trash room warmer by comparison was the murderer. However now that he's just admitted to turning it on, the fact is that he turned it on and my theory has been blown out of the window." I think I had disappointment in my voice as I said this, and Leon replied with something that did not improve my day.

  
"Well, excuse me princess! It's not my fault your theory for a murder that I didn't know was happening failed because I wanted to get rid of a shirt!"

  
"Besides. The furnace was still turned off. So, if Leon turned it on, it would have been impossible for him to turn it off, so he almost killed us all if it weren't for the intervention of the murderer. So at least your theory still holds up." Kyoko said calmly, which caused Leon to recoil in shock and he got a lot of death glares that that moment.

  
"Heh, sorry about that." He tried and failed to get the glares to stop.

  
Meanwhile I was breathing the biggest sigh of relief that had ever came out of a human. After taking a deep breath to regain my composure. Kyoko spoke up. "Monokuma. Does the trash collector have to keep ahold of their key at all times, or not.”?

  
Monokuma remain calm as he said. "Well, I think it's going to be more fun if I don't tell you anything, so I'm not going to tell you anything."

  
Kyoko then mumbled something to herself as she continued. "Alright, since I have already asked everyone about the key and no one's got it, then there's two options, either I search everyone here expect from the two I've already checked, or you just say if you have to key."

  
"HUH! I mean, while I wouldn't exactly mind that Ms. Kirigiri, isn't that an invasion of our privacy?" Hifumi responded.

  
"Would you rather be slightly uncomfortable for a few seconds, or all die" She responded as calm as can be. I think I should help out.

  
"Me and Chihiro got searched, and it wasn't that bad. I'd prefer it to dying." I chimed in. Chihiro didn't technically get searched but Kyoko seemingly knew she didn't have the key and I've trusted them both to this point, and I have no plans of stopping.

  
"Y-Yeah, well I bet you two enjoyed it because you're a pervert and she likes being dominated." Toko said, causing both of us to glow a shade of red. Chihiro covered her face in embarrassment and I was unable to counter that for some reason.

  
Kyoko response was similar to what I was thinking. "No human language can describe the disappointment I'm feeling right now." She took an angry sigh before saying "If this kills us all, I wouldn't be surprised, but let's find another way to the blackened then."

  
"Hmph, if that's the case, where do we start. What other evidence is there to cover." Byakuya coldly stated.

  
"Well, Chihiro did say that there were three leads, the furnace, Hiro's Jacket and the smell coming off from his bathroom. While we don't have answers for the first two maybe we could discuss the smell. It did smell odd in there." Hina responded, covering for me and Chihiro while we were still recovering.

  
Hifumi countered her reasoning with, "Well with all due respect Ms. Asahina, why would you know what a dead body should smell like?"

  
"I don't! I'm just saying it wasn't what I imagined one would smell like." She yelled back while pointing at him.

  
"To be fair, I doubt any of us would know what a dead body would smell like." Sayaka said quietly. She was countered by a person we didn't expect to speak up.

  
"I know what a dead body smells like."

  
Hina saying "Toko!?" was the loudest thing in the room.

  
"I've been around one or two before. It's were I got my fear of blood. I could remember the smell. It wasn't entirely different to my past experience, but I think there was this other horrid smell."

  
Should I... Yeah, I've got to pick up the pace. "Hey, I think I have a theory of what the other smell is." Shocking everyone in the room.

  
"Huh!? But that's impossible. I can vaguely remember the smell, but I don't ever remember smelling anything like it in the school!" Kiyotaka responded.

  
"Well, I'm supposed to be the Ultimate Luck, right? So, I figured I could put that to the test with the Monomono Machine, where you can get prizes. Now I know this is a stretch. But I was able to get something that has a high chance of smelling similar. But I have to ask, when I get my theory out, I need you all to be honest. If you have seen what I'm about to hold up in the school, I'll need you to hold your hand up. Unless you were with me when I got the prize during the investigation. Understand? This could mean nothing at all, so I wouldn't worry about it. Besides I've had awful luck" Everyone nodded and so I decided to pull out the Diet Cola and I saw no hands go up. Perfect. "Sorry Toko, I get the feeling you hate this drink, and I do too to be honest, but I need you to see if the unusual smell and this line up."

  
"I-I understand. I-I won't forgive you though if this turns out to be awful." Toko responded. I walked over to her and undid the cap. After recoiling in horror, she then announced, "Yep, that's the same smell that was next to the body" in a defeated tone.

  
"Thank you for helping me solve this case." I simply said before walking back to my podium. "Now you may be wondering, why did I bring this up. Well I've never opened this in my life. I hate Diet Cola with a passion. But this is the first one I have got. I one I had during my investigation was taken from me. By a certain someone who lied earlier." The person in question started sweating bullets and Chihiro noticed what I noticed.

  
"Hey, Hifumi. Why did you lie before? You said you never saw this Cola before, but earlier you said, 'It took me thirty tries to get it once and I haven't done it again!' You had no reason to lie earlier or now, unless you..." her voice began to trial off. We have a new suspect.

  
"Well that's because, you see, I err, maybe someone else was lying too?" Hifumi said, trying to get the blame off him.

  
"No. Because I can confirm that no one else had the smell of Diet Cola anywhere near them." Kyoko said.

  
"HAHA! Ms. Kirigiri, you said that you knew the smell of Diet Cola, that could mean you could be the murderer as well!" Hifumi countered. Which was quickly shot down.

  
"Makoto didn't say, 'if you recognize the smell put your hand up', he said 'If you have seen what I'm about to hold up in the school, I'll need you to hold your hand up.' I haven't seen Diet Cola anywhere in the school. I just recognize the smell. However, Makoto could just be aiming at a false lead. So, here's what we'll do, I'll search your body for the key to the furnace. If you don't have it, you won't be guilty. You should have nothing to worry about, right?" Kyoko has the situation under control now.

  
"Hmm, Hifumi. If I was in your shoes, I'd give up. She has you pretty cornered at this point." Celeste said with an air of confidence.

  
However, Hifumi then had a reaction that I don't think any of us were expecting. "NO WAY! ALL THIS TIME LEON'S THE MURDERER AND HE'S JUST DOING A BIG COVER UP TO COVER HIS TRACKS! I REFUSE TO DIE LIKE THIS AND TAKE EVERYONE ELSE WITH ME. MAKOTO IS COMPLETELY WRONG, WRONG I SAY" He's going nuts and rambling on and on. I looked at Kyoko who was just sighing. I'm going to go deaf in one ear at this rate. I have to shut him up. I was half tempted to punch him in the face or get Sakura to do it for me.

  
I shouted over him. "MONOKUMA! HOW MUCH TIME DO WE HAVE LEFT?"

  
"Oh about, 10 minutes before voting time. Why do you ask?" He said calmly, while pretending to look at a watch. This thankfully managed to shut Hifumi up.

  
"What the hell? How have we managed to waste 50 minutes on this stupid case?" Byakuya replied to this with a lot of annoyance in his voice.

  
"Hey, can we restrain Hifumi so then I can search him?" Kyoko asked, while sounding like she's given up on us all.

  
"HUH!?" Was his only response. However, I think the urgency of the situation was just as pressing for Sakura and Mondo as they had already gone up to him to restrain him.

  
"Thank you. This won't take long at all." She said before giving him a body search that was surprisingly quick. "Take the bag off of him." She said, which the other two did do. She gave a sigh of relief when she got out the key and the knife. It was over. "Does anyone have any objections before we vote."

  
Mondo was the one to respond to this. "I mean I would gladly vote for him, but I kind of lost track of the case and I'm not exactly comfortable voting for him when I don't know what he exactly did."

  
"Alright. We still have a few minutes. Makoto, would you kindly run down the case one more time." Kyoko said. Which surprised me greatly. I think my expression turned into one of confusion as she said this right after. "Believe it or not Makoto, you've been leading the trial. It only makes sense that you finish it."

  
"Right. This is what happened during the night. Yasuhiro invited Hifumi to his room for some reason and Hifumi must have brought his one Diet Cola for some reason, I assume it was to calm him down before his attack. While Yasuhiro was in the bathroom, Hifumi took that moment to attack and kill him, He took Yasuhiro's coat and burnt it and went back to his room to rest. A pretty decent murder, if he hadn't taken the Cola with him, we would have never found him. However, the case wasn't that simple, as on that night, someone else planned a murder. Sayaka came to my room and asked to switch rooms with her. I assumed nothing bad was going to happen, so I agreed to it, however she changed the name plates on our rooms, possibly to trick her victim into coming into my room. She and Leon met and had a fight, that ended with Sayaka breaking her wrist and taking the knife into the bathroom. Leon wanting to help Sayaka, went back to his room and tried to grab a screwdriver that would work. At the same time, I received an unexpected guest. Chihiro came into Sayaka’s room for unrelated reasons, although she intended on going to mine. Realizing something was up, the two of us went back into my room and we found Sayaka on the floor and I ended up fainting. Somehow the two we able to get me back onto my bed. Leon saw this and decided to not interfere anymore. During this time, Leon decided to burn his shirt using Yasuhiro's crystal ball. Hifumi went out of Yasuhiro's room, not realizing that Leon saw him. Hifumi went and burned Yasuhiro's shirt and went back to his room. At this time Leon found the dead body. AND THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED IN THIS CASE!" After giving that lengthy explanation, I took a very deep breath. Unfortunately, I wouldn't get much time to breathe.

  
"So that's your answer then kiddos? Well you better start voting! And not voting will result in punishment, so it's Voting Time!"

  
On my podium there were 15 pixelated people, all representing one of us as our names were underneath the sprites. I tapped on Hifumi's and then a message saying 'Please wait...' popped up. After a few seconds, it changed to 'Time for a special announcement!' It then had all of our sprites on a platform each. It all seemed normal until Hifumi's platform disappeared and Leon's fell down a little. Then the screen turned into a slot machine and after rolling, it landed on Hifumi, showing we were correct in our choice.

  
"BWAHAHAHAHA! You were 100% correct, I'm beary proud of you all!" All of our eyes turned to Hifumi. He had just killed Yasuhiro and tried to pin the blame on Leon. Do we even want to know why, or will that make us feel worse about killing him?

  
"Going by what Monokuma said earlier, it seems you had planned this since the motive was shown off. Why would you want to murder someone?" I asked quietly. I'm scared for him, I really am. But now is not the time for fear, now he has no time at all.

  
"I got scared for my family... I didn't know what had happened. I hoped that if I got away with it, they'd be all OK..." He said quietly. So was then, that pretty much confirms it for me. The motive was using our loved ones as bait.

  
"So, you planned to kill us all for that?" Byakuya said angerly. I don't think he really cares too much about Hifumi's family.

  
"No! Not all of you, just Mr. Hagakure. But then Monokuma said those things about the class trial and punishments and I got scared. If I had known about them, I most certainly wouldn't have done it." He replied somberly. I not sure if the somberness is coming from the fact that he murdered Yasuhiro, or the fact that something very bad is about to happen to him.

  
"So, then you tried to protect yourself from whatever Monokuma is going to do next... I'm sorry, but I did what I had to do." I replied quietly

  
There was simply silence for a while. Until Monokuma got up. "Well it seems you've said your goodbyes! Not it's the time you've been waiting for! It's time for the Punishment!"

  
Hifumi was sweating. Like if he didn't stop he'd die within 5 minutes type of sweating, and he meekly asked, "Wait, what do you mean by punishment again... I kind of forgot..."

  
"It's execution time!"

  
"WAH!!!" He screamed, as he tried and failed to flee. The reason as to why is because a claw grabbed him and pulled him over to a door that then slammed shut. On a big screen we saw a Monokuma sprite pull a Hifumi sprite away.

  
Monokuma ordered us to go through another door. The room we went in was pitch black until a light turned on showing Hifumi tied up and in a grass field, on either side of him there were too giant robots preparing to fight. And Monokuma was piloting both robots for some reason. Then a card came up saying the words

  
"ROBO-JUSTICE STRIKES BACK: The Ultimate Fanfic Creator's Punishment!"

  
The two robots immediately started firing missiles, rockets and bullets at each other, every now and again one would 'miss' and land near Hifumi, hurting him. The attacks quickly became more intense as the fight went on though. As more projectiles came crashing down on Hifumi and soon blades came flying out and rocket fists! This continued for what felt like hours. And then the robots stopped attacking each other. Hifumi, who at this point was burned, beaten and bleeding all over, had a sigh of relief as he and we thought it was over. Then all of a sudden, the robots glowed a blue and pink energy and charged into each other, with Hifumi being at the center of it all. Somehow, he didn't die but was turned to stone. Monokuma came out of one of the robots, beaten and hurt, and panting heavily. He looked at Hifumi's statue corpse and got close to it. We didn't know what he Monokuma was doing until he suddenly inflated and blew up. Destroying Hifumi's statue, if that wasn't disturbing enough, blood came out of the destroyed statue. Hifumi was dead.

  
We walked back into the trial room in pure silence. There was nothing to be said. Monokuma popped up and started to yammer on "BWAHAHAHAHA! Well that sure didn't disappoint. It was a blast. I hope I did that series Robo-Justice. I really am the bomb sometimes you know that kids?" I... this is my fault isn't it... I mean, I know he murdered Yasuhiro but, I still sent him to his death...

  
"THAT'S IT!" I heard Junko scream, but I didn't have the willpower to turn to her. The world was moving by itself and I couldn't move. "I'VE HAD IT WITH THIS MOTHERFUCKING BEAR, IN THIS MOTHERFUCKING SCHOOL! YOU'RE FORCING US TO KILL EACH OTHER JUST FOR YOUR SICK KICKS AND AMUSEMENT!"

  
"Well it's not my fault that Hifumi took out a knife and stab Yasuhiro now is it? And it's not my fault that you found out about what he did wrong and voted him to die." He's right, it's not his fault that I found out about everything and told everyone to vote for him. Maybe if I didn't vote it'd be easier, why did I even press that button, there was no point was there. We're gonna die in two weeks anyway, so why wait...

  
"SHUT UP. I AM GOING TO DESTROY YOU, YOU STUPID TEDDY BEAR!" I could hear footsteps and running. Junko was still screaming. "COME HERE AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN, BEAR THING I DON'T KNOW!" I could hear a grunt of confusion coming from her.

  
"Stop. Please do not throw your life away like that. We now know Monokuma is serious about killing so he would not hesitate to murder you in cold blood." Sakura said quietly. There was a moment of silence, that felt like forever. However, I think she must have nodded as the next thing was unrelated to that.

  
"Welp, you kids have a nice sleep. Listen, I'm going to open up the second floor and the bathhouse, just for you! It be open in the morning! So, have a nice nap, I know I will!" Monokuma said before he left. There was a mumbling from everyone else on what to do now. I mean, we can only go up from here, right?

  
...

  
Did I do the right thing? Should I have not of gotten the Cola from my room? Will I have to go through this hell again? What happens if I die and I can't help people like I did in this trial? Why are we here, just to suffer? It can't be that simple right?

  
"Makoto." That was my name being called out by Kyoko, but my body didn't want to answer.

  
"J-Just a second." I called out quietly. I was still looking down at my feet. Hoping that they would not be planted like trees. I'm not sure how long it really took, but I managed to walk towards the elevator. Everyone was inside, and we went up in silence. No one had anything to say after the trial and no one wanted to look at each other. There were no congratulations or anything. We didn't want to be congratulated for murdering someone. Eventually it stopped, and I walked back to my room. I heard Sayaka call out to me.

  
"Hey! Listen, I know it's been a long day, and it's my fault that your room got messed up, so you can sleep in my room if you want. I know you most likely don't trust me, but I'd prefer it if you got a good night’s rest, you deserve it more than anyone here." She said, becoming more somber with every word.

  
"No, thank you. I'll be fine in my room. Thanks for offering though." I replied and opened my door. Sayaka nodded at my choice and walked off to her room, although she had a worried look on her face. I closed my door and put my face onto my pillow and before long I fell asleep.

  
Day 3/14 Finished...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Hifumi, I really don't like him to be honest. I think he's supposed to be comic relief but he's simply not funny, but still, someone had to die first and someone had to get executed first, that's how this goes. Still I enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope you all somewhat enjoyed reading it. Feedback is welcomed and now I'm gonna write the next one. Hooray. Also I kind of realised how anit climatic the final showdown is. It's like, "hey did anyone have a coke before this." "no" "well you're fibbing" "ok he's the killer" Honestly this case wasn't well planned out. That's something I want to improve at in the future. Also when I'm writing the chapter, it seems so much longer than it actually is. It's slightly embarrassing to be honest.


	6. Day 4: The second floor opens up!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the class trial, Daily Life begins a new. Mondo and Junko are our victims this time.

"It is now 7am. Get ready to get another beautiful day at Hope's Peak Academy!" The morning announcement woke me up. My room's clean... but I don't care. My body doesn't want to move and to be honest, I'm not a fan of that idea either. Hifumi's death still rings in my mind, I don't know how I managed to even get to sleep. I couldn't have been sleeping for more than a few hours, I'm sure no one else would have gotten up at this time anyway, so I feel I'm not breaking any rules by just being here. I hate myself for thinking this, but I think I got kind of lucky. I didn't know Hifumi or Yasuhiro very well, and they were the first dead, I can't begin to imagine if Sayaka managed to kill Leon or vice versa. What would have happened if me and Chihiro walked in on to her and Leon's dead body? I would have been forced to kill her, wouldn't I? What happens if Leon was the one that survived. He could have easily attacked or maybe even kill both of us in order to protect himself from Monokuma's wrath. I'm not sure if either of them realizes this, but Chihiro saved them both. If Leon had headed back and Sayaka would have been upset at him, then... at least she somewhat cared about me... right? If I had an emotional break down after someone who I wasn't close to died... God I don't think I'd be here for very long in that case. Do people even like me here, I know they say they do, but there's still doubt in my mind, that's most likely just me being an idiot though right. I think I'm going to try and get some more sleep, I'm exhausted right now.

...  
...  
...  
*DING DONG* Huh, that's my bell, right? I don't know what time it is right now, but my body feels like lead. *DING DONG* They most likely want to see me for some reason... Alright come on... I can do this. *DING DONG* I think the person at the door's getting a little worried. Why is it so tough to get out of bed? After a lot more effort than I expected, I finally got out of bed. I walked over to the door and opened it.

"Oh! I was going to press the doorbell again, but I guess that wouldn't be needed now." It was Chihiro, I mean, it makes sense but it's nice to see a friendly face after what happened yesterday.

"Sorry about that, my body didn't want to get up today. Am I late for the meeting?" I asked as politely as I could.

"We continued the meeting without you. You were going through a lot and we decided just to give you some time. You weren't the only one that missed it though, Byakuya went missing as well so everyone else is looking for him, I volunteered to get you out of bed. Sorry if you wanted to get more rest, we were just worried about you" Chihiro explained while apologizing.

"Chihiro it's fine. Honestly, I should be the one saying sorry. I mean I made you all worry about me for no reason. So, I'm really sorry about that, let's go see if Byakuya's safe OK?" Honestly Chihiro's a little too nice for her own good, but then again, I suppose it's a part of the reason I like her so much.

"OK, I think everyone's searched the entirety of the first floor, so he's not in the bathhouse or the storage closet at least... Also, you don't have to say sorry, I'm sure no one will hold it against you." Her response was quick and calm.

We walked up to the second floor, where there were 2 more toilets, 2 more classrooms, a training room and a library. However, the most surprising part was the mad crowd that came out of the library, which had everyone upset apart from Celeste and Toko surprisingly enough. It took me less than 5 seconds to figure out what just happened. "I suppose they found him. At least he's still alive." My voice was the most deadpan that I could get, so that's fun. "So, what happened with Byakuya?" I asked the crowd, and the first one to speak up was Leon was voice was the angriest that I've ever seen him.

"Dude you would not believe how much of a jerk he is. He's saying he's going to be by himself just because he thinks that his poor little back's going to get stabbed."

“However, it is not outside the realm of possibly, at the same time, leaving to be by yourself is not the smartest move, as it makes you an easy target to take out, does it not?” Celeste stated to no one.

"This is really bad for morale. If he doesn't want to be with us, then it may give everyone else bad ideas and then we would not be able to be happy in this school life." Kiyotaka responded, and he does have a point. If everyone doesn't want to go to meetings, then that's going to destroy our trust in one another.

"Yeah... sorry about missing today's meeting with you guys." I responded to his claim, figured it would be the best time to get this out of the way.

"Makoto, you can't blame yourself for missing today's meeting. Honestly I'm amazed I was able to get out of bed..." Hina replied to me quietly.

"Oh yeah, do you want to know the worst part of what he said?" Leon face looked like he was about to explode from angriness. Timidly, I replied.

"What would be the worst part?"

"He called you and I quote 'The perfect example of trust being broken. I refuse to end up like him, a broken buffoon who can't handle the fact that we're in a killing game!'" Leon shouted angerly. It's nice to know that they care about me at least.

"I still think I should have beaten him up. It's one thing to say some shit to someone’s face, it's another thing to do it behind their backs." Mondo said, his voice burning with anger. I guess being around Byakuya brings the worst out of us huh. We all get mad and into fights and I always have a feeling that something bad is going to happen to him. Honestly, I'm kind of scared for him, even if he doesn't care about me.

"Hey guys! Let's have a pool party tomorrow!" Hina happily said, which caught us all off guard. "I mean, I'm the Ultimate Swimming Pro and I've never got to have one before, so maybe I thought we could have one just for fun? Please?" She really seems to want to do this, doesn't she?

"That sounds like a wonderful idea Hina. It would do wonders for morale, as we could use that time to get to know each other." Sakura stated. Kiyotaka seemed to nod in approval due to the word morale. I'm liking the sound of this. Maybe I should help convince everyone!

"Yeah! I haven't been in a pool for a few years, so I'd love to go in one again! Besides it'll feel great to do some exercise, we don't have many exercise functions here." I added to convince everyone.

"I b-bet you're only saying that so then you can see girls in swimsuits aren't you!" Toko said in a panic. Should I be honest here? Yeah, I think that's a good idea.

"No, it's not for that, honestly! Besides if that was the main reason, well let's just say you'd be half correct." I got a few glances of confusion... guess they don't know about that yet.

"I wouldn't mind it, I mean I just wanna forget about all of this killing and stuff. It'd be the best way to do it" Leon joined in.

"I mean, it could be a nice relaxing time for us. Although if we are going through this, I'd like a time to be there by." Chihiro added, causing Hina to go into a deep-thinking state.

"Well, I'll announce it at the meeting tomorrow! For now, though, I've got to plan everything out! See you tomorrow!" Hina finished while running off. Not going to lie, I think tomorrow's going to be a very good day. Everyone then decided to head off in their own directions for the day. A part of me wants to hang out with Chihiro again, but then again, I also want to hang out with everyone else... You know what, I'm gonna see if anyone wants to hang out today!

Free Time Begin!

I decided to check out the male training/changing rooms to see if I could find anyone in them, out of all the guys, Mondo would be the one that makes most sense to be in there, so I'm glad my deductions were correct! I figured I should make the first move in case if he's to engrossed in his training to notice me. "Hi Mondo!"

While he was still exercising, he looked towards me and said, "Hey" I guess he's not much for conversation. Still, I should just ask, just in case if he wants me gone.

"Hey, do you mind if I stay here and watch for a while?"

"Nah, it's fine" He said without missing a beat. So, for a while, I was just watching him exercise, it was a nice and relaxing experience. I think I learned something about exercising today! After that exercising, Mondo got up and asked me a simple question. "So, are you more of a dog guy, or a cat guy?"

"Huh, that is an interesting question. I'd have to say dogs though. Always liked them." I answered as quickly as he asked. I wonder why he asked that?

"Heh, that's a good opinion you've got there, I ask that question to everyone I meet so don't fucking bother asking why I asked OK? You know I still got mad respect for you Makoto, you were able to take a punch while I was angry, and you're totally cool with it. I mean, I said sorry and all, but still that takes some guts, so you're cool with me." Being complimented by a guy this strong and scary is quite the feeling.

"Oh, well thanks Mondo, but I've got a question for you. What does being the Ultimate Gang Leader mean?" I decided to ask him now, since maybe I've got his respect.

"Heh, so you don't know me yet? My gang's the Crazy Diamonds. What we do is make the streets fear us, you know break down buildings, doing pranks and all that stuff. I recently became the leader after my bro decided to step down in order to live his life, I owe pretty much everything to him and was his second in command, so there was no way I was going to refuse to step up. We pretty much ruled the streets of my home turf. No one could stand up to us and we were the coolest. I think you'd fit right in honestly." Mondo proudly explained, but me?

"Huh?! Why me? I'm not that strong and I don't even know how to ride a bike! Never mind a motorcycle!" I said in a panicked retort.

"Nah man. The gang isn't all about riding around. You've also got rival gangs to consider, and in order to beat them, you have to show them your gang's the toughest than the toughies, smarter than the smarties and sharper than the sharpies. Basically, you've got to show them that your smarter, tougher and can react faster than everyone else. Honestly you survived a punch from me, you've proven to see things most others don't and you're smarter than most people here, including me I'll give you that. Although you sure as hell ain't stronger than me!" Mondo told me. It honestly feels really nice to be complimented by someone of his statue, although did he just quote a cartoon?

"Thanks Mondo. I really wish we could have just been in a normal high school you know. Maybe then I'd be able to ride a Motorcycle or join your gang. If you can lead a gang, I'm sure you'd be a great leader to us all. Or at least keep us in check" Honestly Mondo's really pleasant to be around when he's not mad.

"No fucking way man. I would just mess around and make you guys join in. Some of you would either be to stuck-up or too innocent to join me in that. Speaking of which..." Mondo replied with brutal honesty, but then his voice went quieter as I wondered what he was about to say, "Did you know that Chihiro asked me how I became so strong and how she respected that? I may have panicked a little bit and shouted at her, so I'm sorry about that I guess?" I was taken off guard by this to say the least! Are we really so close that we'd tell each other about our day? Guess I should take a second and not shout something stupid.

"Err, no not really. She never said anything about that to me. It's not like I have to know everything about her or anything!" I said, trying to keep the shock in my voice as low as possible.

"Shouldn't couples know everything about each other though. You know, to keep each other happy or some shit." Now my face was turning red.

"Mondo! We're not dating or anything. We've only known each other for a few days! Besides she's just a friend and I wouldn't want to burden her with anything like that if she doesn’t want that or anything." I feel like I'm on serious damage control now

"Dude, the only people denying that you're together are you two, you even give each other gifts and shit. Listen, I have no fucking idea what I'm talking about, but we've got ten days left of our lives for all we know. If you get the chance to become a man, you've gotta take that chance. But don't you dare hurt her OK? A real man never hurts a woman, otherwise that punch you took is going to seems like a pillow fight in comparison." So, hurting Chihiro has emotional and physical repercussions now, well that's more reasons then I'll ever need to not hurt her. Also, what does he mean by becoming a man? I'm sure he won't judge me for telling the truth about this, he brought it up anyway.

"It's just that... I'm not sure about a lot of things. First of all, I don't even know if she is romantically interested in me, if she just wants a platonic relationship, I’d be perfectly happy with that. Secondly, how am I supposed to talk to her, I mean she's the Ultimate Programmer and so much more talented than I am and even if she likes me... how can love flourish in here. In a killing game where anyone can die at any time. What happens if someone kills me, or even worse... what happens if Chihiro dies, if we were dating then, I would never be able to forgive myself or get over it, what happens if Monokuma does kill us after the time limit is up, I don't think he'd give us a quick death, he'd torment us while we would be slowly dying and I..." Tears are being to run down my face as I was rambling on. I just don't want to her hurt or get hurt myself. Mondo quietly put his hand on me and started to interrupt.

"Err, sorry didn't mean to make you cry or whatever. Geez I didn't even realize you felt that way, sorry for bringing it up. Listen, I know it hurts to lose someone you're close to. I really do, but please just try to get closer to her OK, you're both going through this and you both deserve each other to keep you happy. Sorry for being a jerk or whatever." He said before leaving. I wanted to call out to him and say it was fine, but I simply couldn't open my mouth. Honestly, I do want to keep Chihiro happy and be friends with her, I really do. But at the same time, I don't want to indirectly or even worse, directly hurt her. At the same time, I don’t want to talk about her all the time, I want to know more about everyone else… is that selfish? I should stop thinking about it for a while. I can talk to her later about it.

I wonder if anyone else is around? I went to the cafeteria and found Junko. She wasn't eating anything or really doing anything. I think she's been lost in thought for a while. Maybe I'll talk to her. "Junko, hello!"

"Oh, hey Makoto! How are you?" As soon as she saw me she put on a huge grin and did a V pose with her fingers.

"I'm fine, you wanna hang out or something?" Since she's here, I might as well hang out with her, after all, I want to get to know everyone anyway, and she's here.

"Oh, ho oh, cheating on Chihiro I see? I suppose I could see why." She said with a sly grin on her face

"WAIT WHAT!? We're not dating and even, so I just want to-" I was going to go on a paragraph that I had basically recorded in my mind.

"Heh, you're much too easy to embarrass when talking about her, you know that? Anyway sure, I don't mind talking about myself." I mean she's not wrong, but at least she dropped the subject quickly. "So, as you should most likely know, my name's Junko Enoshima, The Ultimate Fashionista! So, I'm gonna guess that you want to know how I even got into the business of fashion. Well, I may look like it now, but as a kid I was homeless." I couldn't keep the shock out of my face. Homeless! "Yeah, that's about the reaction I expected from you. You're a really nice guy, you know that? Anyway, I was walking around my home town and there was a modeling competition going to happen. So, I got some pennies and dollied myself up for the occasion. I won that tournament by a landslide, turns out that it was televised, and I didn't even know it. A lot of companies came to me and said they would give me money for dressing up in weird clothes for them and the rest of history. So, did that satisfy your curiosity?" For the most part it did. From humble beginnings, that's pretty admirable. Honestly a lot of things about everyone is admirable, guess that's why they're Ultimates. Although there was something I wanted to ask.

"Hey, I've seen of magazines with you on them in passing and I was wondering, why don't they have your freckles on them?"

"Oh that? You didn't know, companies didn't like me as much with them on, so they edited them out, that's all." She answered immediately. Has she heard this question before?

"I think you look better with freckles to be honest, they're cute!" Honesty is the best Policy as they say.

"Aww, thanks Makoto! But hey, I can't decide what others like. Be that people, features or places. I don't like the fact I can't be myself, but you've gotta do what you've gotta do for the people you care about." She's talking about her family isn't she. She provides for them then...  
"Huh, what's got you down all of a sudden? Listen, it's no big deal. But can I be honest for a second. Being Homeless made me realize how important having a roof over your head and food to eat is. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, for a place to live, this isn't too bad." Wait what!? "Yeah, I know the 2-week rule and 2 of us dying is pretty bad, but at the same time, I'm just happy to have met lots of wonderful people, y'know." That doesn't make sense. I should talk to her about it.

"But that doesn't line up with your outburst from yesterday." She took a second to realize what I was talking about

"Oh, I didn't realize you heard that to be honest. I thought you were in a lot deeper. I guess that I was just thinking with my emotions at the time, not with logic. Sakura calmed me down though, thankfully. So, it's all good. No need to worry about me. But be honest with me, has this really been 100% the worst thing to happen to us all?" I really don't know how to answer that, but I can't keep her waiting I suppose.

"Of course, it is! We were supposed to be in a class together and not hurting each other, and now our lives are on a time limit and we're in a death game! I understand you've been homeless, and I can see why you'd think that way, but most of us aren't like that, we don't have that experience!"

"Huh, pretty basic viewpoint, although I don't think you can speak for everyone, but understandable I suppose. Listen, Makoto I'm tougher than I look, and I like you, so let me give you some advice. If you really want to survive for as long as possible, you can't get too close to people without fully knowing them first. There's a difference between trust and blind faith. Also, sometimes, you have to accuse people you care about of doing terrible things, if you can't live with yourself for doing the right thing, even if it hurts, you won't be able to live at all." The Junko that told me this was completely different to the one from earlier. Does she have a spilt personality that none of us know about? I think she noticed the switch as she continued speaking. "Woah, that was... weird of me wasn't it. Well, I'd totes appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about that weird thing. Got a persona to keep up and I don't want to be distrusted or anything! Listen, you're too kind for this world Makoto and I hope you never change. Just make your girl happy OK? If we're lucky, Monokuma is lying about the 2 weeks thing or even better, he'll let us out after that amount of time. See you around Makoto!" While I feel I've learned more about everyone else when I met them, meeting Junko just felt weird. She told me her back story and everything but the fact that she seems a lot calmer than yesterday and not as hateful of the killing game is very confusing to me, is there something she knows but isn't telling me? Or is she telling me something, but in a roundabout way. I just not going to think about it for now. I checked my Monopad for the time and it said 9.00pm, how'd I manage to waste so much time doing nothing? Ah well, guess I'll wonder around until nighttime.

It didn't take me long to run into trouble. Mondo and Kiyotaka were shouting about something in the bathhouse... guess I'll see what they're blabbering on about. "Listen! You can't go waltzing in here and telling me what to do! You've got some nerve to do that you punk!" That was Mondo's voice. I should try and stop this argument.

I walked into the bathhouse, preparing for the worst. "You are being very unrulily! That will surely cause problems for us! You must be more hardworking towards your studies!" Kiyotaka said with his own booming voice, leading me to question how I was the first one to find them like this.

"OH YEAH, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO STUDY FOR CLASSES WE DON'T FUCKING HAVE!?"

"Mind your language! Also, it is easy to study, I can do it all the time, so you can too!"

"Well then, I've got a study idea for ya! How about you study on the art of MINDING YOUR BUSINESS!" I see no weapons, so everything is fine... right?

"As the Ultimate Morale Compass, it is my duty to make sure everyone is on track with their learning, so for your information I am minding my own business!" I decided to slowly walk away. However, I wasn't very lucky, as Mondo looked at me and seemingly had an idea.

"How about we settle this once and for all! Me vs You in a battle, whoever lasts the longest in the sauna will be the winner! And Makoto will be the judge." They won't stop shouting, please stop shouting.

"That sounds like a good idea! Then we shall go into the sauna and I will prove to you that studying is important!" Wait what?

"Alright, then let's go!" Mondo said, before quickly TAKING HIS SHIRT OFF RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY EYES! While Kiyotaka was unfazed, I was lucky that no one was looking at me. Mondo's body was one to behold, his six pack was definitely visible, and I suppose there's a reason why he's called The Ultimate Gang Leader. Meanwhile Kiyotaka took off his shirt with a lot more calmness to it, neatly folding up his uniform. Surprisingly he also had a muscly build, which leads me to wonder, what use would a moral compass have of a muscly body. I mean, he does look really nice... I've gotta get out of here, before I say anything embarrassing. I turned around and began to walk out. However, I was caught. "Hey! You have to watch us!" Mondo shouted back. Honestly, I'm a little scared to turn around but I mustered up the courage to turn around. Thankfully they weren't naked, since the two had towels on them, then they walked into the sauna room and I saw the two sitting down. So now I'm watching two hot guys trying to see which one is better. I'm not sure whether I'm alright with this.

"Hmph, I can see your sweat, clearly you are nervous to be beaten!" Kiyotaka started off with some fighting words, not a great plan.

"Oh really? Then why are you sweating way more than me!" Mondo replied. They have resilience to say the least.

"You clearly must be looking in a mirror!" Kiyotaka responded. I mean, a part of me enjoying this, but another part of me is worried that we're going to find two bodies in the sauna tomorrow.

I was taken off guard by something else though. "It is now 10pm and that means it's officially nighttime. Some area's will be closing soon so please leave them as soon as possible!"  
Monokuma hasn't said anything about the sauna closing so they should be fine. I guess I'll call out to them.

"I'm gonna go to bed, I don't want to fall asleep by accident and get punished for it." I told the two, while trying to keep my yawn in check.

"Alright Makoto, sleep is important! Don't worry about us, we'll be out of here in no time!" Kiyotaka calmly responded, well, as calm as possible for him anyway.

"You got that right punk! You'll be out in the next 5 minutes!" Mondo yelled out.

I walked out of the bathhouse, but now I'm worried. I mean, I'm most likely being overdramatic about this, but it just feels weird to tell people that. If they ask, I'll say, if not, then I won't, yeah, that's what I'll do. Everything will be fine. I'm going to just go to bed.

You know, I still haven't played on that Funplane Chihiro got me. I haven't seen her today either, but I'm sure she's fine. I got out the Funplane and opened it up. When I turned it on, a message popped up saying "Thank you for being my friend and a nice person - Chihiro Fujisaki". I'm guessing it's a signal that this isn't a normal Funplane but a Chihiro Funplane. I set the time, and had the date set to 4 days after the last day I remember, since that seems reasonable. As it turns out, there was a bunch of games preloaded on the console. I'm guessing Chiaki's USB helped there. I've never met her, but if you're out there Chiaki, I hope you're safe, if Monokuma's lying about you being dead, I'll make sure you're safe. I decided to play the first game in the list for a bit. It was a platformer collection where you could choose your level order in all the games, however I ended up getting stuck on most of the levels. When I decided to gain some self-control, it turned out to be almost midnight... oops. Hopefully I can get Chihiro to program some kind of timer system at night. I put the console in a drawer and headed off to sleep.

Day 4/14 Finished!

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a few weeks ago I played The World Ends With You and now I can't help but imagine Makoto in Neku's poses. It's really weird. Also what about that Smash Direct huh and Delta Rune was fun. Oh, you wanna talk about this thing? OK. The pool party was my own idea to add some more interactions within the group and is going to take most of the next chapter. Anyway, I still am not sure if I'm doing a good or a bad here in quality so that's fun. Anyway have a nice day.


	7. Day 5: The pool party!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The class now is going on the pool party Aoi planned out!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPTER WAS OVER 10,000 WORDS, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. While writing, I was like, well this is taking longer than last chapter, I wonder why? I copy and paste into Word and BAM. Anyway more notes at the bottom.

"It is now 7am. Get ready to get another beautiful day at Hope's Peak Academy!" The sound of Monokuma's voice woke me up today, which was odd since I at least felt like I was partly awake all the other times... I've got to get Chihiro to add a timer. Today's the day of the Pool Party, right? I just released I'm not sure about my swimwear, hopefully there'll be something in the storage closet, bathhouse or the changing rooms. I shouldn't make everyone worried like I did yesterday, so I immediately got up and after getting dressed, I headed off to the cafeteria.

  
When I got in, there was an unexpected sight. Kiyotaka and Mondo were getting along really well. Everyone there was even more confused than I was as they were all looking at them like they were two complete strangers in a new group of people... which they kind of are I suppose. I sat down at my usual place and while looking at the two Chihiro asked "Hey, do you have any idea what happened with those two?"

  
"They had a competition in the sauna, where they had to last as long as possible. They were arguing before it, although I didn't see the end because of the night time announcement."

  
"Oh, that makes sense, I guess. I'm just glad that they're friends now." Chihiro smiled. That's true. If we can get everyone to be friends, then at least we won't have major arguments. It's pretty impressive that they have become so close in a single night, but I'm happy for them. Their smiles just make me happy.

  
"Well then Bro, are you ready to make this pool party the greatest that ever happened!" Mondo shouted at the top of his lungs. Luckily me and Chihiro weren't that close to them, so our ears were spared for once.

  
"Of course, it will be so amazing that no one else will die! In fact, Monokuma will let us early it'll be that great."

  
"I think something happened to them last night. They are clearly in the 5 stages of grief right now." Celeste snarked from the other side of the room, which meant that everyone heard her.

  
"OI, we aren't going through grief!" Mondo shouted, causing Celeste to eye roll and simply hold two fingers up. Hina and Sakura came into the room, which is good as I don't think much fighting is going to go on now.

  
"Alright everyone! I've come up with some plans, Me and whoever wants to help will set up the pool party! We'll have lots of things to set up, but we should be done before lunch, so that's like midday, right? So, lunch will end about 1pm and the pool party will begin! So, any volunteers to help set things up quicker?" I know Sakura's helping, that's just obvious. Mondo, Kiyotaka, Junko, Leon and Sayaka all stood up to help. Hina looked over at me and Chihiro with a big smile on her face, I'm guessing she wants my help, well this is embarrassing.

  
"I would help, but I don't know where my swimwear is, so I think I'd prefer to look for that first." I calmly stated.

  
"HUH? Really, you agreed to a pool party without swimwear? That's just embarrassing and confusing." Hina said in disbelief, however she regained her composure and said "Hey, Chihiro, do you want to help?"

  
"Oh! I'm sorry, but I've got things I want to do before the party starts, so I don't think I have much time to help. Sorry" Chihiro was very apologetic, like she usually is.

  
Hina sighed and then said "Alright, everyone else, we'll go and sort everything else. See the rest of you soon! This party's gonna rock!" She regains her energy quickly to say the least. She didn't even ask Kyoko, Celeste or Toko if they want to help. I wonder how they feel about that. Anyway, I can't sit around I've got to find my swimwear! I got up and decided to look around school for it.

  
Where should I look first? The storage room seems like the best place to look. The room was certainly a storage room, in which there was a lot of storage... there's a chance I'm gonna be here a while, might as well do some thinking to pass the time.

  
Alright, so who likes me and who doesn't. Chihiro likes me and she considers me a friend, I mean, her Funplane said so and she is the person I've grown closest to during my time here and honestly, I feel glad about that. Mondo and Kiyotaka respect me, for different reasons I suppose but I'll take what I can get. Sakura seems to be fine with everyone, Hina likes everybody, Junko said she likes me although her spilt personality is confusing. Byakuya doesn't like me, but I don't think he likes anyone here. Leon seems to be fine with me, I'm not entirely sure as despite what Chihiro said a few days ago, we haven't talked much. Toko seems to dislike me, but I think that's just because he's so nervous that she thinks we think the worst of her. Celeste is weird though, I honestly can't tell what she's thinking half the time. I'll have to be careful around her. Sayaka... I don't know what to think about her... Kyoko is also someone I can't get a grip on. She's a stoic so it's hard to tell what she's feeling, but she seems nice enough, she helped out a lot in the previous investigation and trial... It's already been two days since that happened? First Sayaka almost dies, and then Yasuhiro gets killed and Hifumi, he did murder someone, but he didn't deserve that. No one does. I, I should try and forget about that. I mean, I don't want to forget their memories, but I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to have a normal last few days if I dwell on them. Heh, normal, I kind of miss that. I'm just a normal guy in a crazy world now, someone had to be picked for the lottery of doom, and I got picked, which in turn...

  
Oh! Here's the workout bags. Maybe it'll be in these ones! Let's see, there's no names on them, so I guess I'll take the one that looks like the best fit. Thankfully, my "Ultimate Luck" shined though, thanks to that, I'm not going to be here forever. So, I took that bag and headed off to my room to try it out. Long story short, it fit. So now I'm in my regular clothes with nothing to do. Guess I'll go help everyone else out.

  
*Ding Dong! * That was my bell? Wonder who could be at the door. I walked over and saw Toko surprisingly enough. Well, it'd be rude to not say anything. "Oh, Toko! Hi how are-"

  
"S-Shut up and follow me a-and don't tell anyone about this... g-got it!" Toko stuttered. This is getting weird, but I guess I'll follow along. She was pretty shifty-eyed while she was walking, until she stopped in front of the library. She nervously knocked on the door. But nobody came. She knocked again. But still, nobody came. I know she's looking for Byakuya for some reason, so I'm getting kind of worried. She's knocking quite franticly now. I decided to open the other side of the door. There was no one in there. I've never seen the library before, but it wasn't anything unusual, just books. I noticed there was an extra room. I walked slowly towards it, hoping that what I was thinking turned out to be false. My hand reached for the handle, and I creeped the door open...  
There was no one there, thank god. I called out to Toko "He's not here, maybe he's just in his room." Toko looked annoyed and sighed.

  
"W-Well, I suppose to can talk to him later. By the way, I-I have no plan of joining your pool party, you'd all call me ugly anyway" She said before she stormed off, I wish she realized we do care about her, but that was a frightening experience to say the least. But I don't think anything in here peeks my interest, although that extenison cord might be helpful to remember, if I want to charge my Funplane in a weird location I guess. Ah well, I'm going to grab something to eat.

  
To my surprise, everyone working on the pool party was there. Is it that time already? "Oh, Makoto!" Hina waved out! She seems pretty happy. I decided to check the time. As it turns out, it was in fact midday. Which raises many questions.

  
"Hey, does anyone else feel that time's going a little fast?"

  
"Huh? No not really. Anyway, we managed to complete it all! So now the Pool's ready whenever you all are!" She said with a big smile on her face. Well, they aren't called Ultimates for nothing I suppose.

  
"Sorry I couldn't help."

  
"It's fine. I think you being able to come to the party on time is a lot more preferable!" Hina beamed. I guess that's right. "Alright, so Makoto, since you didn't help get the pool ready, would you mind getting us some food?" Of course, I have to cook. I'm not sure that's a good idea. We could be ending up with a massacre here. But I can't just say no. Everyone else worked hard, so I should too!  
"I guess that's fair. Oh, and before I forget, Toko said she doesn't want to come." I headed off into the kitchen to see if there was anything I could make.

  
"Well that certainly is a shame. And we worked so hard to make everyone want to come" Kiyotaka sadly said. I guess I can hear everyone from the kitchen now. Neat. Maybe I could also grab food from the Storage Room? Maybe the Monomono Machine and my talent could help out too!

  
"I think she's just not used to being around other people yet. She'll come around soon enough" Sayaka jolly fully said. We haven't talked in a while haven't we, at least she's somewhat happy. Oh, maybe salads? Nah, nobody wants to eat a salad.

  
"Still, her nervous and panicky nature does make me worried that she'll act without thinking." Sakura stated. Do we have any meat? Wait no, maybe someone's a vegetarian, wait what happens if they're vegan?

  
"Meh, I don't think she's quite strong enough to be a danger to anyone, not even herself. If she is in danger, we'd help her out anyway, right guys?" Junko commented. This fridge is a lot more impressive on the inside than it is on the outside, holy moly.

  
"Hell, yeah we would! No why I'd leave a girl to get hurt, that's the least manly thing you can do. And I can assure you, me and Bro will protect everyone here! Right, bro?!" Mondo shouted, he seems very eager to be around Kiyotaka. It really makes me happy. Let see, what's in this drawer?

  
"Of course, Bro! No one will even want to get harmed because we'll make this school so great that it will be the best in the world." Not entirely sure of that logic Kiyotaka. Huh, what's this. Oh my gosh, could it be?

  
"PANCAKES!" I may have shouted that a little too loud, but I couldn't help myself, I love pancakes. Just the simple flavor of them and their smooth texture and the fact you can put ANYTHING on them and it'll taste even better! I've never had a bad pancake ever, I wish we had them more often at home, but honestly, I think my parents weaponize my love for these things. I don't know whether they are lunch food or not to most people. I wonder if there's any sauce or ice cream. Oh god I hope there's ice cream, you can put it on your pancake and let it melt a bit and you've got even more flavor added to perfection, add whatever sauce you want and how can you not like pancakes. Seriously, if you want something sweet, you can put honey on, if you want something sourer, put lemon sauce on it, if you want perfection, here's my favorite type of pancakes. First you put vanilla ice cream on, then you let it melt for a minute, then you put the cream and honey on. Then you get some fruit and put that to the side of your meal and put a ward of butter on a stack of five pancakes and that'll make any day a good day, even if something really bad happens. Like not murder bad but still. Honestly, I'm drooling just thinking about them. I'll put some aside for myself, while I get something else for everyone else. These pancakes are mine now I will own them, and you will not steal them, or I'll steal your soul. OK maybe not that far but still. I turned to put them on the table beside me and saw everyone staring at me with a look of pure confusion. "So, I'm guessing pancakes aren't on the lunch menu?"

  
"I mean, if you want to have some that's fine, but you've just spent the last fifteen minutes stood completely still while looking at a packet of pancakes and looking at your face shows that you were drooling over them. How about we help you out here." Sayaka responded, somewhat dumbfounded at how I could spend so long looking at pancakes, but I'm telling you, time goes fast in this world!

  
"Heh. Dude you love pancakes more than Hina loves dounts most likely." Leon chuckled.

  
"Hey, at least I don't stare at my food before I eat it!" Hina said, likely insulted by Leon’s comment. I should try to defend myself.

  
"Well, I would eat them right away, but you have to cook pancakes first and you've got to flip them! I'm a master at that, I can flip about 100 times a minute and my highest flip was so big that it when above a tree! It was a small one though, like about 9-10 metres. Also preparing pancakes is another important part of the meal, due to the many variations of toppings you can use on the pancakes, it is important to place them properly and carefully as to make the perfect pancake!" Sure, it may be bragging, but I'm surrounded by some of the most talented people in the world, I feel like I should say something about my skills!

  
"Woah, dude, I think you might have beaten the world record for highest flip there!" Leon stared in shock. Wait what?

  
"And 100 flips a minute is no small feat either. That would be less than one a second. If you do not mind, I would like to see your abilities in action someday." Sakura stated. I guess that makes sense. Still the Ultimate Martial Artist is taking an interest in my abilities, that's incredibly high praise, I'll have to live up to that.

  
"Man, you always put yourself down because you're normal compared to us and you're secretly one of the greatest people in the art of pancakes. What is up with that?" Mondo said, in a very confused manner. To be honest, I don't know. I've never considered it that impressive

  
"Hey, I've got an idea! You can use your skills to impress Chihiro! Tomorrow lunch time, we'll have a demonstration of your abilities! And if you're as good as you say Makoto, we can call you the Ultimate Pancake Master!" Hina said with a smile on her face. I'd get to impress Chihiro, huh? I mean I'm not sure if she'd be impressed by my skills, but it sounds fun anyway.

  
"That sounds fun! But I really should get back to cooking now, I've most likely wasted a lot of your eating time with my pancake loving." Well this is certainly an embarrassment.

  
"Hey, I'll help. I don't want us all to be late for the pool party." Sayaka said calmly. Everyone else agreed to this, and thankfully we decided just to make fruit and salad, since I can make that. We didn't talk throughout the preparing though, so it was pretty awkward. But surprisingly fun. It was a simple meal for all of us in the room.

  
"Lunch is ready!" I called out with enthusiasm. Everyone came up and collected a plate. No one had anything to really say about my food, makes sense. It is pretty darn basic. I decided to start up a conversation. "So how did you guys set out the pool?"

  
"No telling!" Hina replied. Well that shot down my attempts at talking now didn't it. We ate our meal really quick and now it's the moment we've been waiting for! "Alright everyone! It's One and now it's time for us to head to the pool party!" And there was much rejoicing from all of us. We all headed up to the changing rooms and went into the one that was the same as our genders.  
Now I know what I have to do and fast. Just stand in a corner and do what needs to be done... OK I'm done!

  
I headed on out to the pool, and the surprising part of this was that I wasn't the first one to arrive on the scene. Chihiro was idling about in the pool and she doesn't seem to be doing much. Maybe I can start some conversation. As I got in the pool I shouted "Hey, Chihiro!". I also looked around in awe to see the work everyone had done to make this feel like a pool party. There were lots of pool toys and equipment as well as lifesaving tools. There were snacks and chairs in case if you didn't want to go into the pool and there was a big net that was low enough to play sports with, but high enough to not be a problem for swimming. It's very impressive to look at.

  
Chihiro turned around in surprise, "Huh? Oh, sorry about that, I didn't see you there. Is it already One?" Heh, guess I'm not the only one in shock at how time works around here.

  
"Yeah, everyone else just finished lunch and they're in the changing rooms now." I told her.

  
"That's good to know, I guess you're a fast dresser then?" She replied. Yeah, sure... That's the reason.

  
"You look really cute right now." I said without thinking. Oh god why did I say that, oh no.

  
"Eh! Err, I mean, um, thank you. I haven't gotten a compliment like that in a while so sorry for my shock." And now she's apologizing for something she didn't even do. I mean she always does that but still, it never fails to make me feel bad.

  
"Oh no! It's my fault I spoke without thinking and made everything really awkward and-" I would have kept talking if Chihiro didn't interrupt me.

  
Softly, she said "If it means anything, I think you look cute too"

  
I can feel a big blush coming on my face, "T-Thank you." My voice just went from normal all the way down to a whisper. I guess I shouldn't give out what I can't take. I just hope she means it in the same why I did, and not in a romantic way. We just stayed in the water for a while, not really saying anything because we didn't know what to say. I still want to make conversation though, so let's take it slowly this time. "Everyone did a good job on the pool party didn't they."

  
"Yeah, it really looks like Hina had everything planned out. Hopefully it'll be as good as she hopes. I wouldn't want all of the hard work everyone put in to go to waste."

  
"Don't worry. Everyone's just looking to have a fun time, so I don't see anything going wrong. Besides if something does seem to go wrong, I'll try to put a stop to it. I'm worried that they'll put me in sporting activities though." This is nice, just some idle chatter.

  
"Why would you be worried about that?"

  
"I'm the worst at sports. Like I have no stamina at all so I'm always out of breath, it really sucks, and I always feel like I'm dragging everyone down."

  
"Well, it's more about having fun, right? That's what this party's about and a lot of people find sports fun and if everyone's having fun anyway, you can have fun too. Besides I'm pretty awful physically too..." Chihiro seems really bummed out all of a sudden. She doesn't like her weakness then, I can relate there. But still there's something odd about that.

  
"Hey, if you have pretty bad strength, then how did you get some muscles on your arms. They aren't huge or anything, true but it shows that you've trained." I've never seen most of Chihiro's skin, for obvious reasons, so seeing her small build, that had some strength to it was surprising.

  
"Huh? ...I'm sorry for the lack of an answer, but I'm not sure, I don't remember having any muscles but now that you've told me, I can tell I have them, but I don't know where they came from..." Chihiro's starting to look a little frightened right about now, and I can tell why. If she doesn't remember training, what else wouldn't she remember... Wait, what about the rest of us. Could we all have the same problem... What the hell did Monokuma do to us? "C-Can we change the topic please?" That was all she could muster out.

  
"Yeah, that, that sounds like a good idea." My reply was quick and shaky, but it got the point across. Luckily, I do have a topic in mind. "Hey, so about that Funplane you gave me. Could you put a timer or something on it please?"

  
Chihiro has a confused look on her face, which is unintentionally making my heart melt due to how cute it is. "Huh, I mean I could easily make one for you but why would you need one? You seem like the sensible type when it comes to gaming." It took everything I had to not explode into laughter at that comment.

  
I sighed out my response, as that was all I could do. "Nope, when I play video games, all my time sinks away, and I get a little too engrossed into the world of the game. last night I ended up playing until midnight. A timer would help me not do that again." She has a soft smile on her face. I guess I remind her of her friend, that's nice to know.

  
"Well, you are sensible in the fact that you see you have a problem and you're working to fix it. That's better than someone else I know. I could get it done for you quickly enough. If you could drop off your Funplane before 10pm, that'd be a huge help." She's really calm. I guess the Ultimate Programmer wouldn't have a problem with a little reprogramming.

  
"Hey Makoto! Chihiro! Enjoying the pool party?" I turned around and saw Hina, Sayaka and Sakura all ready for the pool party. However, it makes me wonder, how much did they see? I hope they didn't notice what just happened between us. Let's just forget about that.

  
"It's been great so far! Everything’s organized so nicely and the pool's just nice to relax in!" Chihiro's very excited voice and smile seemed to radiate throughout the room. I simply nodded as there was nothing more to add.

  
"Heh, guess this party's already been worth it. I mean, if everyone else is gonna be as happy as you two are then there'll be nothing ever to worry about. At the same time though, there might be another reason as to why you're so happy." What she was talking about was obvious to me. This is the life I lead now isn't it. Everyone else realized too as there was smiling and giggling to be had. All I could do was sigh that this point. Everyone else from the pool team came out of the changing rooms, and I saw Mondo looking at me and giving me a thumbs up, which made me realize just how close I was to Chihiro.

  
"Opps, sorry" I said while scooting a bit away from Chihiro. Surprisingly she looked disappointed, did she realize and enjoy it? Now I feel bad.

  
"Oh... Sorry I didn't realize you were so close. I mean if you aren't comfortable with being so close to me then I won't mind." She has a quiet tone to her voice. Still I'm surprised that she wants me to be close to her, I guess I didn't think of her as the type of person that would like that, but we all have little surprises I suppose.

  
"Do you want me to go closer to you?" To this, she only nodded and that's the only answer I needed. As I went closer, she had a small smile on her face. She seems content right now. To my surprise Kyoko came into the room, although she wore her normal clothes? I'm not complaining but it just seemed weird.

  
I heard Hina shout, "Alright, everyone let's have the greatest pool party ever!" She seems very excited, hard to blame her. She's the Ultimate Swimming Pro having her first pool party, I'd be excited too. She decided to swim lots of laps along with Sakura which makes me wonder, does she realize what a pool party exactly is? But she's having lots of fun so I'm happy. Sakura's putting up a good fight as well. Mondo, Kiyotaka and Leon are trying to join in, but they are getting left in the dust. Mondo called out to me.

  
"Yo, Makoto! You wanna see how fast you are compared to us?" He seems to be very much enjoying himself. Calmly my response was.

  
"That's not a question I need answered." To which Mondo shrugged and went on his way. Meanwhile Sayaka, Junko and Kyoko were talking, they seem to be happy. They are pretty far away though, so I can't listen in, not that I would want to of course! I feel something flop onto me and it turns out to be Chihiro, resting her head and trying not to fall asleep. Sure, teenagers are normally tired a lot, I would know, but she isn't a normal teenager, and she hasn't shown any signs of sleepiness before, unless she's been hiding it. But I should just wake her up a bit, I don't want her to get punished for sleeping. "Hey, have you got a good night's rest? We've been through a lot and you've reprogrammed a toy, so if you want to get some sleep, it's fine, I'll walk with you back to your room."

  
"Huh? Oh, sorry, I was just resting my eyes, don't worry I have gotten some sleep..." I'm not sure if she's fibbing or not, but I trust her, so I'll take her word. I noticed that Hina was stopped by Sayaka for a few moments, likely to talk, however she soon kept on charging forward. All of this continued for a while until Hina got out of the pool and got a megaphone!

  
"Can everyone come here for a second!" She called out. Everyone turned towards her and headed over. Alright, we got this net out for a reason, so it's time to use it! Water Volleyball time! So, we'll go in teams to see who's the best at this!" We've got a numbers problem, so I'll speak up so no one is left behind.

  
"We can't do teams because we've only got nine people. Unless Celeste or Kyoko joins in, someone is going to get left out."

  
"Huh? Oh yeah, I didn't think of that. Alright, so then how about this, whoever gets pick last will be the referee?" She suggested, but I don't think that's going to work either.

  
"Yeah, I don't think that'd be good for that person's morale. I'll be the referee, that way there's no infighting. Besides I'm not really good at sports so I'd prefer to be behind. Besides I think it'll be more fun to watch!" I responded. Hina looked surprisingly disappointed, but quickly changed to her perky attitude. Did she want to watch me play? Why?

  
"Well, OK then, I choose the captains and the captains will choose the teams! Alright, I say... Kiyotaka and Sakura!" I got out of the pool and decided to sit on the lifeguard's chair. This feels way cooler than it should, I'm on top of the world! The teams were quickly decided. Kiyotaka had, Mondo, Leon and surprisingly Chihiro, meanwhile Sakura had Junko, Sayaka and of course, Hina. Wait, I just realized that I don't know how the scoring works, is it tennis or something like football?

  
"Hey, is the scoring system like 1, 2, 3 or is it something closer to tennis?" To which Hina shouted up.

  
"The first one!" I nodded and was ready for the game to begin. In Volleyball the ball has to be passed from player to player right, I think it's three times then shoot? Anyway, the game was underway, the first point went to Sakura's team with a combo of Hina, Sakura, Hina easily overpowering the team of Kiyotaka. The next point was a combo from Leon to Chihiro to Mondo who managed to do a trick shot to trick the girls into going to the left instead of the right. The third point was intense there were passes from every player and it was getting tougher and tougher to keep an eye on the ball. Interestingly, I noticed Sayaka was only using her left hand and arm to move about. She still dealing with her broken wrist... god, I should have let her be the referee, it would have been easier for her.

  
"Hey, Makoto. Can I have a word?" That was Kyoko right, why would she be calling for me at this time? I jumped off the seat and walked over to her. "I have something to ask. Why are you not admitting the truth?"

  
"The truth, what about the truth?" I questioned, worried about what she was going to say. She walked up to me slowly and whispered.

  
"The truth about the boy's bathroom on the second floor. Don't tell anyone about this, pretend I said something about your feelings to Chihiro." There's a secret about the boy’s bathroom?

  
"Wait what do you-" I started only to be cut off by her.

  
"I help you with this, but you've got to help me. Start by searching for the truth yourself, then we'll be able to work together." What is she talking about? I should just trust her, right? Although she said not to tell anyone... If that's what she needs, I go tonight. Hopefully then I'll be able to understand her. She stopped whispering and said out loud. "Don't you have a game to watch?" Shoot! I have to focus on that luckily no one seem to catch me which also likely means that no one else scored. I rushed up the lifeguard’s seat just in time for Junko to score a point. That's 2-1 for team Sakura. Personally, I feel that match is a lot more even than I expected. Mondo and Leon put up a good offence, while Chihiro and Kiyotaka were good at defending. Meanwhile the girls were a lot more balanced. Hina just got a point. I was dosing off for a second there. I should check something though.

  
"Are we playing until 5?" I shouted down, to which got me an unexpected response.

  
"YES!" Everyone shouted. OK I was just asking. Geez. As I saw this, Chihiro managed to score! Yay! I can't award two points for that can I? Hina quickly regained her lead, however she was called out by Kyoko of all people.

  
"Hey, I need you for a minute." She's as calm as ever, but why would she need Hina. Ah well, this balanced out the game where there was another intense round while Hina was gone. When you thought the ball had reached the water it caught by one of the players. Kyoko and Hina managed to finish their talk before the point was scored, then she asked Kiyotaka to do the same, although instead they both went through different doors because Kiyotaka would never go in the Girl's changing room. This caused the game to become very lopsided. Team Kiyotaka didn't stand a chance. The last two points were scored faster than Kiyotaka and Kyoko this time and I'm pretty sure they were faster than the previous time.

  
"GAME, SET AND MATCH!" My voice signaled the end of the game. Which was nice to know as everyone started to cool off now as they all looked exhausted. I went back in the pool to hang out with everyone again, however, Kiyotaka took my arm.

  
"Come this way Makoto, I thought we could have a nice discussion about improving morale." He was surprisingly confident when he said this.

  
"Woah, Now I'm going this way!" That just slipped out of my mouth. I saw Hina push Chihiro towards the other side of the pool with the girls. So, we're having guy talk and they're having girl talk? Makes sense.

  
"Alright everyone! Thank you for helping me out here! Today I decided to help us all improve morale and the best way to do that is to build our relationships with our fellow students!" Kiyotaka said proudly. Developing relationships with everyone else, sounds nice. Although I'm having a hard time concentrating due to everyone's builds. Leon was a first timer and he was in the middle of Kiyotaka's and Mondo's, honestly all three look like they've trained all their life. Seriously everyone looks so... Get those thoughts out of my head please!

  
"Well, I'm not against it Bro, but how would we do that?" Mondo asked

  
"Simple, we'll ask about our most positive relationships and try to apply that to other relationships!" Kiyotaka stated. I can see where this is going.

  
"Well then. Let's just ask the guy who managed to get a girlfriend in less than a week. Makoto why do you like Chihiro so much?" Of course. I have no idea where to start honestly. Thanks Leon. Why couldn't I have been with the girls, that way I could concentrate on what I was saying!? Everyone was staring at me though, I should get this over and done with.

  
I took a deep breath and began to talk. "I mean, what can be said that you couldn't get from a glance. She's the cutest person I've ever laid eyes on and her smile is even more adorable. She's really kindhearted, wants the best for everyone and she's really pleasant to talk to. Her talent is also amazing, Programming, think about that for a second. All modern technology is made from it and she's a master at it. That's insane and she can do anything she wants with it, that's so inspiring. Honestly, it's amazing that I've managed to come so close to her in just a few days, but at the same time, it feels like I've known her for a long time now, there's this air of familiarity to it, to everything here. Expect from Monokuma, that feels new. But back on track, I just want her to be happy, she deserves it and I just want to help her be happy. She also considers me a friend so that makes me happy. Honestly, I'm struggling to find the words to describe her. The feelings I feel with her... I haven't felt that for any other girl. I think that describes it well." That was all from the top of my head, guess that shows how much I truly think of her...

  
"If you feel like that, then why not go out with her? Seeing you two happy would make us all happy." Kiyotaka suggested.

  
"I... I don't want to break her heart..." That quiet response was all I could give.

  
"Dude, whatever could YOU do to break her heart? You said it yourself, I've never felt that for any other girl, so why not... are you afraid that either of you will die?" Leon said, his voice growing quieter than I've ever heard. He's not wrong at all, but he's not fully right. But still, I nodded in response.

  
"Makoto, man, it's better to have loved and lost, then to never have loved at all. That was a saying my bro told me when I was young, before he passed on, and I have found it to be true in all ventures of life. Makoto, don't pass on with regrets, please be happy and make Chihiro happy. You both deserve it." Mondo quietly said.

  
I thought about my answer for a few seconds, because I didn't want to say anything bad. "I'll talk to her about it, but before I do, I just want to say, I never intended to give off romantic vibes, so sorry about that!" I've got to switch up the topic FAST! "Err what about you guys?!" I almost shouted. The lack of response was worrying... This is getting awkward. "Why is no one else talking?"

  
"Well, err, we haven't had any relationships technically." Leon said... they meant THOSE RELATIONSHIPS? I thought they just were talking about friends.

  
"Seriously guys? I thought you were talking about friendships and stuff like that. Me and Chihiro aren't even close to a relationship yet! It's nice to see you've got confidence in me I guess but still..."

  
"My friendship with Bro is more impactful than any relationship!" Kiyotaka shouted, which made me wonder why he didn't bring it up until now however I let him continue. "The strength of our Brohood is more than anything you'll ever see! There is no competition, we know we are strong, and we are born leaders, together we will make the world a great place to live!" So that explains it. Kiyotaka is born to lead and Mondo is a leader. That explains it, I guess. I guess they are both very loud and hotblooded. Still Kiyotaka wants to become the prime minster right, hanging around a hoodlum might not be the best idea for that...

 

Suddenly, Monokuma appeared on the monitor. Is it already 10pm? "Ladies and Gentlemen, please I may have your attention? Head down to the gym as soon as possible! Meet you there!"

  
"Monokuma appeared." I blankly stated with another statement as just how I felt. "My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined. You know, today was a really good day but nope, Monokuma the stupid bear had to say, 'hey let's kill each other' because that's just my life at this point isn't it. Good god where did I go wrong. What did I ever do to deserve this. Stup- OW!" I started to ramble until Mondo hit me on the back of the head. "Thanks" I replied calmly, he nodded and walked off. Now I've got to think of a plan to get out of the boy's locker room as fast as I can. Maybe if I get dried outside the pool and then rush into my clothes that'll work. I ran into the boy's locker room and got my towel and rushed back out onto the pool area, before I could get a good look on everyone. Just get dried, just get dried.

  
"Umm, Makoto. I've gotta give you some advice, you usually have to take off all of your clothes in order to get properly dried." Hina said behind me.

  
I need to say something quick! "I don't like being naked in front of other people." That's not bad, I guess.

  
"Oh, I guess that's fair. Not everyone's comfortable with that, sorry for bothering you. Hey, Chihiro, what are you doing?" I turned towards where she was looking. Chihiro was wearing some goggles and searching underwater for something.

  
"I think I just lost something somewhere. I'm going to keep searching for it for a while, sorry for my clumsiness, I guess. You all go on ahead!" She seems very insistent on that last line. After I got dried, I rushed into the boy's locker room and threw off my swimming costume and put on my normal clothes then I ran outside of the boy’s locker room at supersonic speed. I guess I've got no choice but to head on downstairs.

  
When I got there, Kyoko, Celeste, Toko and Byakuya were all there, waiting in various degrees of patience. "Hmph, took you long enough to get here. Do you have a death wish or something?" That was Byakuya.

  
"I could say the same to you." Oh boy here we go. I have got to stop talking without thinking.

  
"W-What do you mean?" Toko shouted in a panic. Meanwhile Byakuya looked even more upset than he usually does.

  
"Making yourself out to be a jerk isn't going to win you any friends, so that means you've got no one to check your back and since people aren't going to like you, people aren't going to regret killing you as much if it came to that point, so they'd choose you. If you kill them back, you have to sort out the crime scene and we'd have to execute you. If you tried to kill someone else." I took a deep breath to make sure my point stuck, however I sighed somberly while saying, "We'd send you to your grave"

  
"Hmph, you might not realize it, but you are the example of why I should not trust people. Don't you remember, Sayaka got you to trust her and then she threw you under the bus. I'd figured that would teach an idiot like you not to trust people. Besides trying to get your trust now would be a waste of time. I've already made it clear that I don't like you all and so a trust pact would make it seem like I would try to stab you in the back or that I was cowering in fear and let me tell you this." Byakuya took a step forward and pointed his finger at my face "A Togami never cowers." I let out a slight chuckle that this, causing Togami to give me a death glare unlike any I've seen before.

  
"Enough." That one word from Kyoko made us both back down. She's right it's not worth fighting now, especially when there's a motive incoming.

  
"Sorry, Byakuya. I went overboard there." Byakuya did his 'Hmph' thing and went back to his original position. Soon everyone else turned up, then Chihiro a minute later. I think Byakuya was about to say something, but then the voice of despair spoke up.

  
"My, my kids. Having interesting talks here, there and everywhere tonight! I know exactly what you're talking about, after all I'm god here. Even if I didn't, I'd know what you won't talk about!" Monokuma sang. Can robots sing? "Your next motive! Here are the deepest darkest secrets that are hidden within you!" Suddenly cards flew out of the stage and landed next to us all. Opening mine up said this.  
'Makoto Naegi used to wet his bed until 5th grade'... what. This can't be it right!? Why would anyone in their right mind think I'd murder over this. Maybe I should ask? "This isn't a joke, right? This is my darkest secret?"

  
"Well I mean, it's what I think you'd not want people to know about. I don't know you exactly shessh." Monokuma said with an annoyed sound to him. "Anyway, I'm going to show these off tomorrow night unless someone dies so good luck!" He said before disappearing leaving us all in a panicked state. Kiyotaka spoke up.

  
"If we share our secrets then we have no reason to kill, so let's do that now! My secret is-" He was going to say his, but then Toko stopped him.

  
"I-I don't want to hear your filthy secret! And I have no intention of sharing mine!" She practically hissed this out.

  
"I'm really uncomfortable with my secret. I wouldn't kill over it, I'm not that petty but it's something I deeply regret." Leon stated somberly

  
"Sorry Bro, if only some of us will do it then it's not going to work, besides secrets exist for a reason." Mondo replied, disappointed in himself.

  
"Sorry, but I'm not ready to tell mine, but I'll try to change that! I promise." Chihiro seems a little sad but determined at the same time. Heh, if a motive is can be used for good then, I'm glad.

  
I want to help everyone, so I should throw out my idea. "Listen, this isn't something I'm forcing you all to do, but at the same time I want to do it. I'll stay in the cafeteria until tonight and all day tomorrow. Sometimes it better to get secrets off your chest when you're comfortable with it, so I'll be someone that you can talk too. If you want, I'll got a lot more secrets about myself I can share it makes you more comfortable with saying yours, but only at the table." I suggested.

  
"I mean, if that's what you want to do, fine, but how do we know that you won't tell anyone else before we're ready?" That was Junko. I looked down at the floor and sighed.

  
"And w-what if someone comes into the cafeteria while the secret is being told. Why not do it somewhere secure like a bedroom or something!" Toko also said.

  
Walking away my response was a set of simple answers "For Toko's question, it's because I didn't want to impose on anyone else and I don't want it to be about me, and for Junko's... Because the last time I told a secret, I paid for it dearly." I left before anyone could ask. I went to my room and picked up the Funplane and went back to the cafeteria and sat down by the table, placing the handheld on it. I'm going to be here for a while aren't I. I'll have to find something to do if that battery dies or something. Kiyotaka was the first to come in, unsurprisingly. "Hey, came to tell your secret?"

  
"Yes. If I can show that I am willing to share my own, then maybe I can get everyone else to share theirs." He said quietly. He opened up his card and sighed. I saw a tear of shame roll down his face. "Kiyotaka Ishimaru, was responsible for a school riot in fifth grade that got 18 people badly injured. What happened was that I was disagreeing with the teachers about how the classes should be taught and then people started throwing chairs and tables and someone must have noticed on the outside as other class rooms, I tried to stop it, but I simply couldn't I wasn't strong enough too. That is why I trained not only my mind, but my body as well" I couldn't believe it, he was responsible for a RIOT? That explains the six pack I suppose, but still I don't think I should bring that up, he's not in the right mind right now.

  
I decided the best thing to do was to talk to him with a soft smile and tone "Very well. I respect you having the courage to tell your secret. My technical darkest secret was 'Makoto Naegi used to wet his bed until 5th grade' however, you get another dark secret, because I don't feel that's enough of a dark secret. I was responsible for my family's fridge being broken three times in a row. It's not the darkest secret I know, but I'd feel bad if I only gave you that one. Thank you for coming, and don't worry. No one will treat you differently tomorrow Taka, you're still a good person and a great friend."

  
"Th-Thank you Makoto. I'm glad to consider you a friend." He bowed with a big smile on his face, although a part of his voice suggests he wasn't expecting my forgiveness so easily. "I am truly greatful for your help, however I would be a bad Moral Compass if I didn't help everyone else as well! I'll go and talk to people as well! Thank you once again for your help." I guess I made him feel better. That's nice to know. I know no one else is going to come as quickly as Kiyotaka, so I decided to play on the Funplane for a bit. While playing a game about a child and monsters, I saw Hina come into the cafeteria.

  
"H-Hey, are you still taking secrets?" Hina's crying. Oh god no.

  
"Yeah, but you don't have to do this, I won't tell anyone you've came." I softly told her, while putting the Funplane down.

  
"N-No it's fine. I-I thought about this for a while and I have to get it off my chest." She sobbed that last sentence out. I decided there was only one thing to do. I walked over to her and hugged her softly. "H-Huh!"

  
"I'm here for you. If you want to cry before telling or even just to cry, know I'll be there. I will never judge you for whatever that card says, and I'll make damn sure no one else does as well." She reciprocated the hug while crying more openly, and I just let her cry, because that is what she needed. After a while stopped crying. I asked, "Are you ready?"

  
"Y-Yeah" Her breath is still shaky. "I-I Aoi Asahina, f-forced myself into the biggest swimming competition in the world, at the cost of my brother's place, and now, I'm never going to be able to say sorry because of everything." She starting to cry again. God, I never knew. Her brother is still out there isn't he... She's going to carry this guilt for the rest of her life if I don't do something.

  
I kept using the soft tone I used before. "I know he wouldn't hold it against you, if he if he has only a fraction of your kindness, but I know he has more than that. Family sticks together and loves each other no matter what. Heh, I remember breaking my sisters’ right arm, I slammed the car boot while not realizing that her arm was underneath it. She was pretty cool with it, as she got to have a long-time off school, however I wouldn't stop crying and apologizing for months after her arm broke. I think she might had used it against me, but we still loved each other, and I know your bro would still love you. Competitions come and go. The Olympics happens every 4 years, but family, they are with you forever."

  
"Thank you." She said that quietly, but her tears are clearing up. She let go and so I let go as well. She began to talk again, "Wow, Makoto are you sure you're not the Ultimate Friend or something, I feel a lot better after that, no wonder you were trying to get us to talk! I can see why Chihiro likes you so much. You know what, I've got an idea!" She stood up with a smile coming onto her face. She's like a bouncy ball, she just needs a little nudge but then she's full of energy, she's absolutely the type to make friends easily!

  
"What is it?" I asked the most basic question, but I do want to know, she seems very happy about it.

  
"I'll tell everyone to come and talk to you! That way, no one will have the motive to kill and everyone will feel better! Get ready for some company sooner or later!" She cheered as she left the room. Of course, no one else will come right away, but I've still got time. I continued to play the game I was previously playing until I heard my stomach growl. It's time to eat pancakes! I placed a little note saying I was making myself food, so just come and call me if you want to see me.

  
I got a pancake out and started to fry it, but that's not all I have to do. I have to flip, and flip, and flip, and flip again! I kept on flipping for a while until it was done. I put it on a plate and got some strawberry sauce and put it on. I got another pancake and a frying pan to practice flipping. Then I sat at the table to find an unwanted guest. "Didn't think you counted for this."

  
"BWAHAHA! Oh, you're unbearably naive!" He said with a chuckle in his voice.

  
"Well, I only came to this school 5 days ago." I replied dryly. Please leave me alone.

  
"5 Days Ago? Really, geez it feels like it's been so much longer than that!" Monokuma laughed.

  
"What do you mean by that? I thought time flies while you're having fun and you seem to be enjoying our misery." I spoke with my mouth full, it's rude, but kidnapping 15 people and forcing them to kill each other isn't the kindest thing you can do either.

  
"Eh, I guess that's true, but I consider this more of a hobby than anything else. Would you believe I'm a celebrity on the outside world, it's exhausting though. Watching people kill each other, now that's bearly relaxing! BWAHAHAHA!" Monokuma proudly said.

  
"I guess criminals can be considered celebrities, they both have lots of publicity."

  
"You're comparing me to a bank robber or a murder!? Ouch, I've never felt so hurt in my life!" Monokuma feigned disappointment.

  
"What do you want?" Questioning time has begun.

  
"I just wanted to say, you're impressive. Trying to use my little motive to make people's lives BETTER!? I better watch out for you, Mr. Pancake. Soon you've be using my motives to bring people back to life." He's lightly giggling, this is a bad sign, although I'm not sure if Average Joe nicknames or Pancake nicknames are worse. "Creating harmony just allows me to make more despair, Makoto. You're helping me by doing this, because someone's going to die, and when they do it'll create more despair than if you didn't try." In a flash, I picked up the frying pan and faced it towards Monokuma, making my intent clear. "Woah, woah, woah! Don't you know what'll happen if you hit me? You'll die!"

  
I lost all the emotion in my voice, I honestly don't know what's happening right now, but I don't care. Hell, I don't even think my eyes are open "You'll have to provide a better reason than that."

  
"A better reason hmm? Then I'll count your death as a murder and frame one of your friends, how about little Fujisaki, that'll be interesting to watch. They'll be like, "I didn't kill him, I swear" and it'd be true, it would be the opposite way around" Monokuma sinisterly said, that was enough for me to put the frying back to its original position. "I'll add that as a special rule for you, since I'm the headmaster, I rule and getting destroyed is quite the problem. If you die but not by another student’s hand, i.e. suicide or trying to fight me, I'll pin the blame on Chihiro, that way you two lovebirds can be together in death, although it'll be your fault. Also try not to tell anyone else this, OK?" He quickly changed from his sinister form back to his... normal form. "Listen, no one else is going to take this seriously. Either they don't like you or their secrets are too important for themselves to share, so I wouldn't bother wasting your time. Also, just wanted to say, you better be ready for disappointment, or don't be, it's better for me anyway! BWAHAHAHA!" He screeched his last laugh out and left. Great, now he's blackmailing me into staying alive, how fricking wonderful. I should check my Monopad for more information. Oh, there were more rules added too? I didn't check my Monopad rule checklist... that was quite stupid of me.

  
Rule #7: Once a murder takes place, a class trial will begin shortly thereafter. Participation is mandatory for all surviving students.  
Rule #8: If the guilty party is exposed during the class trial, they alone will be executed.  
Rule #9: If the guilty party is not exposed, they alone will graduate, and all remaining students will be executed.  
Rule #10: Lending your e-Handbook to another student is strictly prohibited.  
Rule #MN: If Makoto Naegi dies by anything but a student’s hand, Chihiro Fujisaki will be blamed for the murder instead.

  
The MN next to the rule says it all, this is a special rule just for me. Now I can't even fight back or anything without putting Chihiro in danger. I wonder if anyone else can see it, whatever, I guess Monokuma's just that petty.

  
I have to calm down, I can't help anyone like this. My pancake still needs eating. I scarfed it down and it really helped my mood, I feel better already! Still, maybe I should practice my pancake flipping, I do want to impress everyone. I got my pancake out and started flipping it as fast as possible. I quickly got into a rhythm of the fastest flips I could possibly do, and I just kept doing them for a couple of minutes. A couple of minutes turned into a lot of minutes and that turned into half an hour and then I took a break for a while because my wrist was hurting badly. During that time, I just kept thinking of how I'm going to say sorry to Chihiro. I don't want to hurt her feelings, but at the same time, I can't let her get the wrong idea about me. My wrist had somewhat healed, so I kept on flipping. Surprisingly I heard a voice. "Makoto, how are you?"

  
I kept on flipping my pancake but turned to look at her. It was Sayaka. "Hi Sayaka! I was doing fine, until Monokuma turned up and then decided my day shouldn't be as good as it was and decided to ruin it like he always does. Anyway, how are you?"

  
"Makoto, we both know why I came here. I heard Aoi saying how good it felt, and I wanted to talk about it anyway." She calmly said, she's a lot less upset about this than Kiyotaka and Hina were. I wonder why? She got out her card and said "Sayaka Maizono let her body be used while underage. This isn't the worst thing that I've ever done, but I just felt I might as well get it off my chest." She was about to get up and leave. She's not showing, but she's hurting a lot, I have to help her. I want her to be happy.

  
"WAIT! Don't go... I know you hate yourself for what you did, but please don't." I called out to her. "At least hear me out... please?" My voice was growing quieter and more desperate at the same time. I want her to forgive herself. Thankfully she decided to stop walking and went to seat back down. Phew, OK I can help her out. "Sayaka, you're only human and just because you did one bad thing doesn't mean you're a bad person. We all make mistakes but that's life." I tried to convince her, then she interrupted me. I'm going to try and make her forgive me and I'm not going to give up.

  
"Most mistakes don't involve taking someone else's life." She countered.

  
"And most people aren't trapped in a school were killing is the only choice for escape. Monokuma got under your skin, there's no shame in that. I'd bet most people wouldn't last a day without killing someone in here. Besides look me in the eyes and tell me it was all a lie. All the time you spent getting to know everyone, look at me and tell me you didn't care." I looked at her and she looked at me. She started to tear up but couldn't say anything. "You never knew about the punishments and the Class Trials that came with killing someone. You are not a bad person Sayaka and no matter what, that will not change. No one in here is a bad person. We're all victims in Monokuma's game that's all." Sayaka remained silent for a few seconds.

  
"Makoto, thank you. I won't be able to forgive myself right away, but at least I've got your forgiveness and that will help me a lot. Hey, can you do me a favor though." She had a smile on her face. Honestly, I'm glad that's she happier with herself now. I wonder what she wants me to do though? "Make Chihiro happy."

  
Wait what! I have no idea on how to respond to this. "I, err, umm, that's, I," I know I'm blushing, but I don't know what to do!

  
"Makoto, while you were talking with all of the guys, we were also talking. Hina wanted to learn about Chihiro and your relationship, so she asked Chihiro how she felt and Chihiro spoke the world of you." Her face was beaming with joy, as she said this. I don't want her to realize this, but this is seriously hurting me. I'll have to put on a mask, just smile or something! "She said 'Makoto is one of the greatest people I've met in my life. He's been nothing but nice and kind to me. He helped me when I was upset about Chiaki, and he let me help him out in the investigation just because he wanted me to be happy. He's also pretty, cute and I've never felt that way about a boy before. I know I like him, but I'm scared of losing or hurting him and I think he feels the same way. He always finds some way to cheer me up and I really like that feeling. O-Oh, I'm sorry for rambling on, I just really like him.' Makoto, please at least talk to her OK, you're both happier when you're together and I just want you to be happy. Talk to her soon OK. Please don't push it back, you'll regret you never got the chance." She said. It's true I'm happier with her, but as soon as Sayaka left I let a huge breath out. I don't want to hurt her, but I'm scared of revealing the truth. I want to go talk with her really soon, work something out.

  
"It is now 10pm and that means it's officially nighttime. Some area's will be closing soon so please leave them as soon as possible!" I guess I'll head to bed. But I'll have to check out the Boy's Bathroom tonight... I'll do it at 12am maybe, no one else should be up at that time. I put my plate in the sink as well as the frying pan. I had to put the pancake that I didn't eat in the bin. I took my Funplane and went to my room, where there was a letter on my bed.

  
Opening it up read this. "Dear Makoto, Sorry for asking this of you, but please come to my room after the nighttime announcement. I have to tell you something important and very personal, but I know I can trust you. Thank you in advance, Chihiro." She needs to see me? Alright then. I got out of my bed and went over to her room. I tapped on her doorbell and waited.

  
"Thank you for coming Makoto. Sorry I got you up this late at night." We walked into her room and she sat on my bed and urged me to do the same. I'm going to regret this if I don't man up and do it now.

  
"I'm so sorry." Me and Chihiro said that at the same time. It was a little unnerving but then I decided to say, "You invited me to your room. If you want, you can speak first, sorry for interrupting."

  
Chihiro took a lot of deep breaths. "M-Makoto, please don't laugh or judge me or anything for this. P-Promise?" Her voice was shaky.

  
"Chihiro, I would never laugh at you, and I'd sure as hell never judge you, OK. Say what you have to, I'll still be here when you are done. I promise that from the bottom of my heart" I gave her a soft smile and spoke softly, like I did with Hina.

  
She looked scared still, but at the same time, she was relieved, "Here's is my darkest secret. Chihiro F-Fujisaki is... a boy." She hung her- No, he hung his head in shame. I can't believe it, Chihiro's a guy? This makes things interesting to say the least and it explains the 'I've never felt that way about a boy before'. He's looking at me with sad eyes. What should I do, or say? I can't rush this! I've got to think... Wait, that's it!

  
I placed one hand on his shoulder and put the other one under his face, so we'd be facing each other. I'm talking very softly today, everyone needs my help it seems. "Chihiro, you are nicest person I've met in my life and you've brought joy and can bring lots of joy to people's hearts with your talent and that wouldn't change if you were a boy or a girl. If you want, do you want to explain why? I won't bother you further if you don't want me too."

  
"N-No it's fine. You should know why. I'm small and weak for my age, even as a girl, you know this. I was bullied for my weakness in school and it got so bad that I ended up disguising as a girl just to make it stop, it felt like the only choice, I couldn't drop out of school because then I wouldn't be able to learn about programming and maths and how to take care of myself, but I still felt weak. I felt like a coward and I wanted to be strong, I didn't want to be weak, but I couldn't bring myself to change. I was scared, and I didn't have the courage. That was until Monokuma said he'd say our secrets and I'm sorry for lying to everyone." He's basically crying however I saw something in his eyes form when he said this. "But I don't want to be weak anymore. I want to change, I want to show the world that I can be strong and that I am a man... but I don't know where to start." He seems a little saddened but also determined. I got an idea.

  
"We'll train." I said quickly, and naturally he was shocked at my very quick answer. "You're my partner, and partners help each other out, so every night, after the nighttime announcement, we'll met in the Boy's Training Room, from there, we'll train for as long as you like. I won't back down from this, you've got the courage to change and I want to help you change, because you're my friend and partner and I hate seeing you sad. I won't reveal this secret until you're ready, because I'm sure it must have been very painful to tell me this. Besides, I've a little self-conscious about my strength too, seriously all of the guys are ripped here, so yeah, I'll definitely help you out!" I know I'm kind of forcing my idea on Chihiro, but I want him to be happy with himself.

  
"M-Makoto..." Tears are forming in his eyes, however by the sound of his voice, I think they're tears of joy. He quickly hugged me, to which I hugged him back because it feels nice. "T-Thank you so much! I promise I won't let you or anyone else down!" He quickly pushed himself away from me though and then said this. "Hey, you said you were sorry about something... Do you want to talk to me about it?" Oh boy, this is going to be awkward.

  
"The reason why I said that has something to do with my previous darkest secret. It wasn't one Monokuma put down for me, but it's the thing I felt the most shame towards. I, Makoto Naegi, am a Homosexual and I'm making everyone believe that I was going to be in a romantic relationship with the greatest girl in the world. But that just feels weird to say now doesn't it." Honestly, I was a lot calmer than before but Chihiro was a little shocked.

  
"Makoto, you're gay!? O-Oh, I'm so sorry for shouting, right after you listened to me talk about my darkest secret and didn't get shocked or laugh at all. I'm so-" Chihiro's going to say sorry again isn't he?

  
"Chihiro, it's fine. That's the reaction I normally get anyway. Listen if you're not comfortable dating or anything, that's fine, but will you still be my friend?" I asked him sincerely.

  
"Makoto, of course we can still be friends! You're the great guy I've ever met! Although I will admit, I wouldn't mind dating you, I honestly do feel attracted to you, emotionally and physically... Do you want to start dating? We've only got a few days left to live and I want to become strong, but I've never had a boyfriend or a girlfriend before... I'm just worried that people might see me as a girl when I do revival my gender to everyone." Chihiro had a giant smile on his face when he said most of that, although the last part put a damper on his smile. Luckily, I know what to do.

  
"Chihiro, don't be silly. If you want people to call you a guy even though you're dating me, they'll do it. Dating a boy doesn't make you any less of a boy." I told him quickly. Then I could feel tears running down my face.

  
"Makoto, you're crying!? Did I do something wrong, I-" Before he finished that sentence, I ended up kissing him, catching him off guard, however it didn't take long for him to accept it and kiss me back. We separated after a while and I decided to explain myself.

  
"I've never kissed someone as cute as you before. Honestly I'm just so happy, I mean I love you Chihiro and I was so scared that you were going to get sad because I thought you were a girl and that I was homosexual so I was so scared of coming out in public because I didn't want to hurt you and then you turn out to be a guy and most likely Bisexual and then you love me back and I get to kiss the person I'd love to spend the rest of my life with and thank you so much for being my friend!" I was having a motor mouth moment, but I'm so happy and there's a lot of tears coming down my face.

  
"I love you too. Thank you so much for everything so far. I'll promise to become strong! I suppose I don't have to ask if those things you said to Mondo and Taka were true, because I know the answer already." He has a huge smile on his face. I guess Mondo and Taka told him about what I said, that doesn't surprise me, he's closer to the boys than girls, and now I know why. I don't care what anyone says, this has been the best day of my life! There's only one thing to do that can make it better.

  
"Hey, can I call you Chi?" I asked him quietly. I've always wanted to call a lover by a nickname.

  
"Huh? I mean, of course you can Makoto... Can I call you 'Koto?" Chihiro replied with full honesty.

  
"Of course! I'd love that. Alright, Chi. You should get some rest, you have a big day tomorrow! Together we'll become the strongest guys here!"

  
Chihiro giggled and then replied "Alright, 'Koto. Good Night. Also, I truly do love you." She ended up getting himself into bed.

  
"I love you too Chi." I replied while walking out of his room. Yes! I got a boyfriend, this is truly the best day of my life! But I have to go Boy's Bathroom that Kyoko told me about... I kind of owe her big time. I walked up to the bathroom, although I encountered no one on the way. I opened the bathroom door and closed it behind me. Using the Monopad as a source of light, I'm gonna look around the room. Most of the toilets are fine. But since when do bathrooms have storage closets or have all the bathrooms, I've ever used been wrong. I pressed on the wall to see if there was a secret in there and I ended up falling though it!

  
I landed in a room with lots of books. Is this the secret Kyoko was talking about? I shined the Monopad on the bookcase and saw a book that looked like something I'd seen before. Opening up the book showed me why. This is Komaru’s diary about me entering this school! She got it because she wanted to record her interactions with all of the Ultimates. But why is it here and why being it heavier than I last checked. That doesn't matter, I've got to keep this safe for her! I put it in my inside pocket and continued to search. I found a file that was strange. I read it out loud. "Hope's Peak Report #113. We have decided to keep the students safe in the school for as long as possible, when confronted with this the-"

  
Day 5/14 Finished...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I kind of accidentally made Makoto homosexual? He was supposed to be Bisexual and then I realised, oh wait he's clearly more gay, so I just went with that. Like if he's gay then the reason he's panicking and blushing over Chihiro is because he's scared that he's going to come out and then he'll make Chihiro upset, I think I liked that more than just, "oh he's not comfortable with his feelings yet", even though he still is pretty comfortable with being next to her. So I just went with that. Chihiro in the game is more Bi at least in school mode where he's clearly blushing at Makoto in some of his date ticket events, or at least if he is heterosexual then he still likes boys enough to feel some romantic connection to someone he's fond of. Also the pancake thing was also an accident. I was listening to music on youtube and then I saw a thumbnail for OneShot music, and Niko, the main character of that game likes Pancakes so I just threw it in. I still don't know why. Writing the pool party was fun as heck though although I'm a little sad I didn't get to devoulp the other characters more (In fact, Toko was planned to get her first in this chapter, but I decided agaisnt it because I didn't want to overload this chapter, despate the fact that the pancake scene existed), but that's what Free Time is for! Also I'm not sure how cheesy and sudden the romantic moment was, and I'll tone it down from now on, I guess what's happening is that thanks to the two week motive emotions are on a high and I mean, if you like someone and I've only got a few days to date them before you pass on, I'd want to date them, and Makoto is just happy that he can come out without any more problems, at least that's how I see it. Anyway, see you soon! Also Feedback is always more than welcome!


	8. Day 6: Deadly Life begins anew.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After getting knocked out by an unknown assailant, Makoto wakes up to find that another body has been discovered.

Where am I... My head hurts so badly, I can't even open my eyes, and I can't hear anything right now. Well what happened last night, that'd be a good place to start. Kiyotaka, Hina and Sayaka gave me their secrets, then Chihiro gave me her- I mean his and we started dating, then I went to that secret room Kyoko was talking about. That's the last thing I remember... so I got knocked out in there, which means that either Kyoko knocked me out, which seems unlikely, or maybe someone else is in the school we don't know about? But if that's the case, why would they be in the school? Unless they're controlling Monokuma! Oh god... WHERE IS KOMARU'S BOOK!? Wait, I can hear stuff again. It sounds like sobbing and people being generally upset...

  
I opened my eyes to see, nothing but the floor. I am lying face down I suppose. I decided to put my hands on the ground to try and push myself up. "YOU'RE ALIVE!" Which caused me to scream a sound I couldn't even describe and fall back down. That was Chihiro right? Why did he think I died? And why did he decide to scream it in my ear? I decided to try again and this time I was successful, although admittedly I'm still a bit wobbly. I put a hand on a nearby table to keep me standing up. I appeared to be in a classroom, Kyoko, Hina and Chihiro were all in the room with me and the latter two were crying. With Chihiro shouting that I was alive, did I die? Before I could get a grasp on the situation, Chihiro ran up to me and hugged me. "Y-You're alive... I thought I lost you 'Koto. I-I was so scared." He was practically sobbing the words out.

  
I hugged him back. "Come on, you know I'd never leave you Chi. Besides I'd never break a promise." I looked at Kyoko, since she seemed the most emotionally stable at the moment. "Hey, why didn't you guys check my pulse or breathing, would have saved a few tears at least."

  
"We honestly thought you had died. When the Body Discovery Announcement came off, I thought it was a false alarm, but then we got your Monokuma File and well, I was about to head off, but I guess I stayed for long enough for you to come back to life." Kyoko told me which raises more questions than answers. Suddenly, Monokuma appeared.

  
"OK, I was honestly not expecting this. I'll make an announcement soon enough, I'm somewhat disappointed that you're alive, but there's nothing that can be done. You'll get the Monokuma File soon enough! Also, I added a new rule in there, so make sure to check that stuff out. You're still on it so just ignore that, anyway, you've still got about 45 minutes to do the case, so I'd advise getting on it ASAP." Monokuma seemed legitimately confused at this but I think he doesn't really care.

  
"Hey, why didn't the announcement go off for Sayaka or Me when we both fell unconscious?" I asked calmly.

  
"Well, for Sayaka, she was playing possum and for you, two people saw you faint, and you had no injures on your body, so I naturally assumed that you didn't die. But since you were hurt and not moving, I assumed you were dead. Fun Fact, this is why rule 3 exists, so then I don't make this mistake. Anyway, get busy my child, you've got a long day!" He replied before leaving.

  
"Wait, if I didn't die, why am I still getting a..." I spoke out the words however I figured out the answer before I finished my sentence. Instead I asked a simple question "Guys, who else died...?" Everyone turned away, looking extremely uncomfortable. Kyoko motioned me to follow her, and I did, with Chihiro helping me walk. I'm not sure if I need the help, but it's appreciated. I didn't see anyone on the way, which is slightly worrying. We were outside the changing rooms. "Hey, Chi, I can walk alone from here, you're not really supposed to-" I began to speak, but then he replied.

  
"Monokuma said that we could go into any room we needed to for the investigation, I assume that means going into both changing rooms is fine." He was surprisingly calm about this. I nodded and braced myself for the worse. The fear I felt during this opening of the door was enough for me to start shaking, and the fact I don't even know who to assume is dead makes it all worse, Chihiro spoke up. "They aren't in this room, they're in the pool." Oh.

  
The boy's changing room changed since the last time I saw it, and Chihiro pointed out the differences. "I'm not allowed to go in the girls changing room, because of you know what, but I know what's changed since yesterday. Firstly, a weight's gone missing, I assume it's the murder weapon in that case. Secondly a carpet and a poster have disappeared, maybe it's because they were murdered in here, which takes out all of the girls as suspects."

  
"Two things, one why couldn't have the girls killed them in here and secondly, I know you want to be a guy, but if anyone says anything, you're not a suspect, alright?" Questioning about the murder before I know about the murder victim. This is a glorious day and an even better first date isn't it.

  
"Did you not notice the giant machine gun on the celling? Monokuma said that if you go into the other sex room then you'd get shot. Something about teenagers always trying to have sex with each other and the like." Chihiro sounded a bit surprised which makes sense, I somehow managed to completely miss a gun.

  
"Well I'm more likely to have sex with everyone in he-" I started to say to which Chihiro immediately spoke up.

  
"Sorry 'Koto, but we are on a time limit right now..." He trying to get out of this conversation quickly. Honestly, I kind of want to finish my sentence because I know what's about to happen.  
I opened the door. Sometimes, it's best to stay in the background, you don't really have to do much, and you don't get as much attention than the leaders. But sometimes you have to step up and be a leader, even though the risks are higher. However, when you're higher up, people see you as a symbol, right? Having leaders look down upon their subjects is normal, but not like this, right Kiyotaka Ishimaru, the Ultimate Moral Compass?

  
His eyes were dead, they had no soul, no fight in them and his face was looking down and had an expression of pure horror on it. At least Yasuhiro had the dignity of having his eyes closed. Both of his arms were positioned in a way to make him look like he was on a cross, although it was tied onto a pair of bars. The word bloodlust was written on the wall with, blood disturbingly enough. He was above a mat with blood on it. Guess that came from the boy's locker room. I wonder why he was moved? But I saw Mondo, Sakura and Kyoko there as well, I guess they were guarding the body. Glad to see Kyoko's advice is still working.

  
I walked over to Kiyotaka's dead body, I needed to see if there were any other clues. I noticed Sakura and Mondo now noticed my presence and needless to say they were both shocked. "Err, am I seeing things, or is Makoto walking around? If he a zombie or some shit, because I can take him out if needed." That's a great start, say your friend is a zombie!

  
"He does not appear to be of the living dead or any such thing. Although it is impressive that he died and came back to life." Sakura stated, and I knew there was only one thing to say to that.

  
"The reports of my death were greatly exaggerated" I gave a shrug while I said this. I looked back at the body, sighing "So, Kiyotaka was the other one to die..."

  
Sakura and Mondo quietly nodded. I guess they were on guard duty for that body. Does that mean Chi and Hina were on guard duty for me? That makes enough logical sense to me. It's uncomfortable to think I almost died. "Monokuma appeared on the monitor surprisingly enough. "May I have your attention, please head to the pool immediately, because it's time for a special announcement!" I assume that's because of me.

  
When everyone else came, I got varied reactions, to Byakuya not noticing the difference, Toko screaming in horror, Celeste just looking at me with her brow raised and lastly Junko, Sayaka and Leon were shocked at my revival. Can you call it a revival if I didn't die? Monokuma popped up as he usually does. I can't believe I'm getting used to this. "Welp, as you can see, I kind of messed up. Makoto is still alive for all that care. Let me say, from the bottom of my heart, my bad. Anyway, here's the Monokuma File #2 for you and I'll be on my way." He left as fast as he came, thankfully. I opened up the Monokuma file to see what it says.

  
The victims of this case are Kiyotaka Ishimaru and Makoto Naegi. Their cause of death was by the wound on the back of their heads and were killed instantly. Both time of deaths are unknown. Kiyotaka was found at the pool and Makoto was found at class room 2-A. It is unknown if the two deaths are directly connected.

  
Well that wasn't exactly descriptive, still two completely separate murders having the same cause of death, however I don't think my murder matters much in this case, as the only person that knew about my room of death was Kyoko. Still I should ask a few questions when I get the chance. "Makoto, come with me." I turned to where the voice came from and it turned out to Byakuya of all people. "Did I stutter?"

  
I do not like were this is going. "I was planning to investigate with Chihiro again."

  
"You can be with the spineless wimp any other time. If you value your life, then you'll follow me." OK, that was just plain unnecessary. I turned towards Chihiro, who simply nodded, then I turned back to him.

  
"Fine, let's make this quick. Still, I've got no clue why you're asking me." He motioned me to follow, which I did. He took me to the library of all places. Where I noticed the extension, cable had gone missing. However, he opened the door to the extra room I went in previously. I went in there and it was the exact same as before. Honestly, I don't know what's going on. "Byakuya, why did you bring me to this place, we're supposed to investigating a murder."

  
"Oh, but we are." He told me calmly as he got out a book. "Here. You'll find everything I needed to show you in here."

  
OK, what could possibly go wrong? Opening the book led to me screaming. There were dead bodies on every page, all of them with the word Bloodlust and their hands were stabbed into the wall with weird scissors. All of them had Kiyotaka's dead look on their faces. "See the similarities? This is the work of a Genocide Jack. A serial killer that only kills males. Thanks to this murder, it has become clear to me, Genocide Jack is residing in our school and is one of the students." I was stunned. One of our friends is a serial killer! Who could do something like that? "Come, we have one more place to go." Yeah, OK, this is fine!

  
We were outside Toko's room, where Junko was waiting. Byakuya motioned her to move aside which she did, and he knocked on her door. It peeked open and she said this "O-Oh, Byakuya... I'm sorry I thought I had it under control, but it happened again. I-I'm sorry!" before slamming it right shut.

  
Then he stopped and told me. "Thankfully, my time spending with you has come to a close, now go do whatever you losers want to do." Why did he do that though? Unless he's trying to imply Toko's Genocide Jack? But that doesn't make any sense, with the poster and mat gone from the boy's changing room, it's clear the killer must be male. Which leaves Leon, Mondo and Byakuya as the only possible suspects. What shall I do for the remainder of my time. Maybe I will check my own crime scene. Why not right?

  
Classroom 2-A was the same as before although I noticed something strange. There was a USB stick on the ground. Not one I've seen from Chihiro, but still why is it there? Is it to throw everyone off and think Chihiro killed me? Or is it that new rule Monokuma was talking about, if that's the case, then the Mastermind killed me, and I can't tell anyone! However, I also found a dumbbell with blood in the room, however I couldn't lift it, it was surprisingly well hidden, with it being under the teacher's desk with a bunch of chairs there as well, but ironically, the chairs are what helped me find it. Maybe I should check out the pool and the boy's changing room, just to be safe.

  
I took another look around the room where I'm pretty sure the murder took place to see if anything was different, but I think the only person that would use this room normally is Mondo. I should check around to see if anything is out of the ordinary. First off all, only one dumbbell is missing, which means that we don't know how Kiyotaka died, unless the weapon that used to attack me is still in the room where I found Komaru's book, I should check that out as well. Surprisingly enough, there was a bag for sports clothes in here, but there's nothing in there. I left mine in my room, I should ask the other guys just in case, or maybe I should check the other bags to see which ones haven't been taken and start from there. I'll do that then. I should also ask Mondo about Kiyotaka quickly.

  
Walking into the pool, I went up to him. "Hey, do you mind if I ask any questions, I want to know a few things about what Kiyotaka did yesterday?"

  
He seems very saddened, for obvious reasons but he eventually sighed and said, "Sure. What do ya need to know?"

  
I'm going full on detective mode here and it feels cool. "What was Kiyotaka doing last night. You were the closest one to him, so I'd figure he'd go to you asking about secrets." My first question was quick and easy.

  
"Huh, so you're psychic now? Yeah, he came to ask me about secrets. He also asked Chihiro, Toko, Celeste, Byakuya and Kyoko to share their secrets, although I don't think any of them agreed too. I didn't share my secret with him... although now looking at him, I wish I did. Maybe he wouldn't end up dead, maybe he'd calm down or some shit." He's extremely somber now...

  
"No, I’m not psychic, that's Sayaka's thing. He came to tell me his secret and he got really happy after sharing his. Anyway, next question, does Kiyotaka use the changing room for exercise?" Second question, coming up.

  
"No, he didn't. Also, quick question, why did you not grab the swim wear from the lockers in the changing room." Mondo quickly answered and asked his own question.

  
Well that's a surprise to me. "Because... I didn't think of it?"

  
"Well, I'm sure you did your best." Mondo snarked. Wonderful, now everyone's getting snarky. I looked around idlily and I saw something shine on Kiyotaka's body, so I went to investigate. "Hey, what are you doing?!" Mondo shouted. However, I ignored him to look at the body, to which I found a watch on his wrist with the time 11.30 on it. This could be an important clue. "OI!?"

  
"Oh, Mondo! I thought I saw something but there wasn't anything there so sorry. I got kind of distracted anyway I think I've seen everything here I needed to so OK bye!" I quickly said before running out of the room. OK, I should head to the bathroom first, so I snuck in there. I went to the secret room, and to my surprise, I found Kyoko. "Didn't expect to see you here." Behind her was a bookshelf with no books on, so the person who attacked me stole all of the books and hope of getting out of here, wonderful.

  
"So, you were attacked in here I presume? Most likely with that baseball bat." She calmly asked, getting straight to the point, while pointing at a baseball bat with blood on.

  
"Yeah, it's the last place I remember being in. Still, how did I survive getting hit on the head with a baseball bat?" I questioned.

  
"Either your Ultimate Luck is more legitimate than you think, or the person in question didn't want to kill you." She calmly said. So, it's the second one. So that means then Monokuma placed the dumbbell near me for some reason, because I think a dumbbell would be deadlier than a baseball bat.

  
"Alright then, do you think that the person controlling Monokuma attacked me?"

  
She remained silent for a few seconds before replying with a "Maybe". I guess she doesn't know either. I don't think there's much else in here for me to find out. So, then I'm going to the Storage Closet now. I waved goodbye to Kyoko and went down there, where I encountered Celeste of all people.

  
"Huh, didn't expect to see you here Celeste. If you're not busy can I ask you about a favor and a question?" I asked as politely as possible.

  
See looked at me funny, as in the look that screams 'what the heck are you talking about', however she quickly told me "Depends for both". Depends on what? Ah well, I shouldn't waste this opportunity.

  
"First of all, when did you last see Kiyotaka? Secondly, I think I have an idea on how to catch the culprit. There was a bag in the boy's changing room that I think belonged to the killer, although I'm unsure of what sizes that the other guys. I used my bag for the pool party, but I don't think anyone else did and Mondo's the only guy that would use the bag for training, as I don't think Leon would want to, I haven't done any and Byakuya doesn't seem to be the type to train and Mondo told me himself Taka hasn't done any training." I quickly asked. I might be running out of time, since I started with only 45 minutes.

  
Celeste seemed to ponder this for a while, which was problematic, but eventually, she said. "Very well, I saw Kiyotaka last night at around 11pm, holding a training bag, so I doubt that your search will be fruitful, unless you want to prove who hasn't gone training, and even then, that's not concrete proof. Also, I'd advise not telling anyone else, you seem reliable enough to keep this information to yourself." I assume she's not going to help with the search then, still it'd be nice to drown out who couldn't have done it. Let's see, they look like they'd fit, Chihiro, Leon and Byakuya... alright so that bag is either Mondo's or Kiyotaka's, interesting. That doesn't fully help, however the places the bags were in were the exact same as yesterday. However, it proves that Mondo was lying, and Celeste was right. What reason would Mondo have to lie about something like that though? I shouldn't draw conclusions yet though.

  
"Celeste, did Kiyotaka tell you his secret?" I asked politely as possible for the second time.

  
"He did not want to tell me his, unless I told him mine. I didn't take him for a gossip or someone that wants to know a lot of secrets" Celeste said, which is interesting, although I should ask Chihiro if he knows anything about Kiyotaka secret, because if not, I could use that as to trap the killer, if that would help. I should ask him about that.

  
"Alright, thank you." I said as I left the area, when I looked back for a second, for no real reason, I saw her waving at me, I wonder why? Maybe I should check the updated Monopad rules just in case. Two new rules came up.

  
Rule #11: The guilty party may only kill a maximum of two people during any single "Killing Game."  
Rule #12: If two different murders by two different murderers occur at the same time, only the one whose victim was found first will be the blackened.

 

So that confuses me a bit, because the person killing me didn't want me dead, but at the same time, if I did die, they would be protected, which means that I would end up dead and no one would have time to care about me...

  
I'm going to find Chihiro, to see if he has found anything and just to say hi, I guess. I found him in Class 2-A, where I was found ironically enough. "Chi!" I almost sang that out to be honest.

  
He turned around and saw me before smiling and saying "'Koto!" Then he swung his arms around me. Guess me almost dying had an effect on him, can't blame him honestly, if I was in his shoes, I'd be way more off an emotional wreck. I decided to hug him back, because I can.

  
Honestly, he just makes me happy when he's smiling and when I'm with him in general. "Hey Chi! How's your investigation going!" I sounded a little so happy when saying that to be honest, I mean we are investigating a murder of a dear friend, but I can't be depressed forever!

  
"Not too bad I guess, honestly though, I think I'm a better assistant than solo investigator. But if you need any help, I'll gladly proved some assistance!"

  
He read me like a book. I pulled away from him and crouched to look him in the eye. I remember him saying he saw Mondo and Kiyotaka last night, after they told him I praised him a little too much, so I only have to ask him one thing. "Listen I need you to be honest with me here OK? Did Kiyotaka give you his secret?"

  
Chihiro didn't avert his gaze, although he did look slightly confused as he said with a calm tone, "No, he didn't. Is it important?"

  
I thought about my answer for a second before replying "No, not really, I just wanted to make sure that existing testimonies held up. Don't worry about it, OK?" I put a smile on my face to reassure him that it'd be OK, however I think this had the opposite effect somehow.

  
"O-Oh, OK, sorry for not being helpful..."

  
"Wait, that wasn't what I meant! Chi, you are always helpful, even when you don't think so please don't get upset OK!" I said in a panic. I took a deep breath to calm myself down. I put my hand on his shoulders and decided to talk. "Listen, we all can't make big impacts on everything, but every little detail is important. Think about it this way, let's say you're on a team of programmers, while you could focus on the UI for example, someone else could focus on the loading and saving and other people could focus on other things. Sure, some people aren't doing as much but at the end of the day, everyone adds a bit to the overall project and it'd be so much worse without everyone else doing their little part. Did that make sense? You still helped me out in the first trial, remember the fact that you helped me prove that Leon wasn't the attacker, with your theory and the Funplane. It may not seem like much, but you're helping out a lot." It just occurred to me that I've given out so many speeches this week that I've lost count, most of them were in the past day as well. But it makes everyone else happy, so I don't mind.

  
He remained quiet for a few seconds before he did something that I truly didn't see coming. He leaned in closer and gave me a kiss. Should I kiss him back... I did kiss him last night, but there I started it. This feels good, yeah, I'll kiss him back. After a moment that felt way too short, he backed up and quietly said "Thank you. Do you have a speech for every situation?" He had a smile on his face, it wasn't a huge smile, but it was a pleasant one, his smiles are so contagious

 

"You're welcome. Also, nope! They all come from the heart! And I'm always willing to share it with you." Now I'm smiling back, looking into his eyes. However, I know this isn't the time for romance, so I stood up and sighed. I don't know what else needs investigating to be honest. I've checked in most of the rooms that needed checking, what am I going to do, check Taka's body... that's not a bad plan to be honest, if not a bit disturbing. Also doubling checking the girls changing room could be useful. "Hey, do you want to continue investigating with me, or would you prefer to do some solo investigation?"

  
"Of course! I'd love to investigate together again!" Chihiro put his hands together and had the biggest smile I've ever seen. He's so happy! It's just makes me happy! I nodded, and we went off. I went over to the pool, going through the girl's changing room this time. It had the same layout as the boy's changing room, however there was an additional dumbbell and a poster! I walked into the pool and just stared at Kiyotaka's body. I noticed that Kyoko, Sakura and Mondo were all in there and Kyoko was also looking at Kiyotaka's body. OK maybe I can get Kyoko to help me out here.

  
"Hey, Kyoko? I've got a question. Have you searched Kiyotaka's body yet? It seems like something you'd do just to be safe." I noticed that at least Chihiro was horrified by that line.

  
Kyoko remained quiet until she said "Yes, however I'd advise not relying on others for help in doing it." Of course, she'd do that. I sighed, knowing that this would be the most awkward moment of my life. I decided to be careful and take it slow, although there was a large part of me that was panicking and begging to just speedrun it. I was startled by voice from behind. "Why are you so nervous about this? If it helps, you should just see the body as an object instead of a person, that way any connections you had to Kiyotaka won't matter." That does not help at all, but I nodded anyway.

However apart from the watch I found earlier, I found nothing. I stepped back from the body and wondered why that was so odd. It simply doesn't feel right that there is nothing, although I could just be imagining things. As I was thinking about this a sound that I was dreading rang into my ears.

  
"Congratulations to the survivor of the near death! However, can they and their friends survive the next part of this crazy story? I don't think so, but anyway, let's get this class trial ROLLING!" Monokuma was joyful, which is always unpleasant.

  
Before I could head out, Chihiro tugged at my hood. I turned at him and he started speaking. "I forgot to mention this earlier, but I found a broken E-Handbook in the washing room, I just thought that might be important to mention before the trial began." Then he held my hand and we walked down to the elevator room.

  
We weren't the first to arrive, nor were we the last. We all stood in front of the elevator. Although Toko didn't show up at first, but was dragged there by Monokuma, kicking and screaming. None of us had anything to really say this time. There was no pretrial speech or banter, we all just walked in slowly.

  
The elevator went down. Kiyotaka Ishimaru, he was murdered by one of us. He was a kind and idealistic, if not bossy soul who cared about everyone he met. He managed to even befriend Mondo easily. Sure, he could be annoying at times, but when he calmed down to try and help us out, or at least me, it worked like a charm. He wanted to become the prime minster and led the country to a greater future, however he was murdered anyway, by one of us. Maybe it was for a selfish reason or maybe not. I was also attacked, but that's not important, because it's time to find the truth, even if we don't want to. I show the world that anyone can make a difference... for you Taka.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> KIYOTAKA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Kiyotaka is my second favourite character in the first game, his energy led to some really funny moments and I liked how he tried to led everyone to being friends. Then Mondo died and goddamn it's heartbreaking to see his reaction, he practically loses it and becomes a fusion of sorts. Unfortunately I tried to a free time event with him and the game said no. So I was like, "Yeah, he's gonna die soon isn't he." Like, I wanted to see if he'd be OK and the game didn't let me. That was pretty mean. Anyway, I've got a piece of advice for you all, PLAN YOUR STORIES OUT TO THE SMALLEST DETAIL. Sometimes it's OK to do stuff on the nose but plan out the main mystery and murders before you start writing. If nothing else, I'm getting experience from all this. Also it's incredibly hard to tell like you are surprised at the mystery, when you know all the main beats and points. Anyway, that's enough rambling from me, trial will be next, so hope you enjoyed.


	9. Deadly Life: The Second Trial!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kiyotaka Isumaru's trial begins, and how will it end!?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's two days late... Shoot! Well, I hope it's worth it anyway... most likely not.

The elevator went down again, towards the bottom. We walked out as soon as it stopped to the same places as last time. Although this time both Hifumi and Kiyotaka had death portraits. Hifumi's portrait had a X on it, although it looked like a bootleg, like it was sloppily done or something. Meanwhile Kiyotaka's had a X that looked a lot bolder than the other two. Monokuma's voice rang out, "Now then, time for an explanation of the Class Trial. It's your job to figure out whodunit and then you'll have to vote on who you think the blackened is, if you succeed, the blackened gets punished, however if you fail then you'll take the punishment instead and the blackened will escape. Now then, let's get this class trial rolling!" Alright, guess I should start things off.

"The first thing we should look at is-" I began to speak however Toko off stopped me.

She screamed out "M-Makoto's the k-killer!" Wait what.

"There's no way 'Koto's the killer!" Hina shouted back. Wait did she call me 'Koto, she does realize why the nickname existed, right?

"'Koto? As in MA-Koto? Didn't realize you two where that close. I thought he was going after Chihiro to be honest, but hey, congrats dude!" Leon responded calmly, and now he's likely gotten everyone to think I was cheating on Chihiro... great. Hopefully Hina can fix up the situation. Wait, why am I using Hina's nickname for internal thoughts but not Chihiro's... Guess I'm not fully used to it all yet.

"Well, I mean, when 'Koto woke up, Chi went over and gave him a hug and called each other nicknames. I thought it was cute that they gave them nicknames so I wanted to call them that too. Besides Hina isn't my real name you know, I'd figured I would have at least some nickname rights." She awkwardly replied and then went into a pout. I mean that is true. Hina is not Aoi's real name, but I don't know, it feels weird having a nickname that was designed for romantic purposes be used for other things.

"So then, what's the explanation, lovebirds?" Junko said with a grin on her face, although he had some snark to her voice. When coming down here, this is not what I expected to happen.

"Err, pretty much me and Chi decided to finally get up the courage to ask each other out last night, and we both agreed we wanted to start dating. I've always wanted to call a soulmate a special nickname and so we decided to go with Chi for her and 'Koto for me and that's pretty much it." I felt a little bit sheepish while talking about that. Honestly, it's kind of embarrassing that there isn't much to tell, normally couples have awkward stories that they go to tell at parties and stuff, but since we're all in the same boat here, there isn't that much to tell. I mean, there is more to it, but I'm not saying anything until Chi's ready.

"Congratulations, you guys! You both deserve each other!" Hina said with a huge smile on her face, although I think she'd notice that earlier. Maybe she's so used to people calling her Hina that she doesn't see the romantic side of it.

"Heh, that's why you're called the Ultimate Lucky Student dude!" Leon said with a grin on his face. I turned to see Sayaka smiling happily. It was her who told me to go and talk to Chihiro after all. I saw Kyoko with a small smile creeping on her face, and Sakura had a calm but noticeable smile.

"Hey you two, congrats!" Mondo gave me a thumbs up. It's really nice to be congratulated, but...

"Do you morons want to live or not. We have less than an hour to find out who decided to kill that loud-mouthed fool." Byakuya interrupted very coldly. He's pretty good at that isn't he.

Mondo shouted back, "Hey jerkass, my Bro isn't a fool, and can't you let those guys have some time to get some happiness!"

However, I had to calmly interrupt. "No, Byakuya's right. Sure, Taka isn't an idiot or a fool, but we don't have time to celebrate our happiness right now. If we survive this class trial, then we can celebrate, OK?"

Mondo remained in stunned silence for a couple of seconds before saying, "Alright then. You better have something really fucking big planned for your first date though." He seemed more calm than usual when he said that, but I could just be imagining things.

"Alright back to the class trial. Why am I the killer?" I asked calmly.

"B-Because you were out at night!" Toko said in a panic. Something's wrong, I know she can't be the killer for obvious reasons, but what is going on!?

"We don't know if I was attacked first or Kiyotaka, what happens if I feel unconscious before Kiyotaka, we can't take that risk without there being more evidence in favor of me being the culprit."

"W-Well, what happens if you faked your w-wound!" All I could do was stare in disbelief.

"That would be impossible. Rule 3 means that he wouldn't have been able to sleep to fake the wound, and he would not be able to last the night of just laying down on the ground while not sleeping." Sakura shut her argument down before it started to gain any steam thankfully.

"Hey Toko? Why are you so worried? The crime was most likely committed by a boy thanks to the fact that a dumbbell was taken from the male changing room, so you're innocent anyway!" Chi added. However, then something unexpected happened.

"Hmph, you clearly aren't as smart as you think" Byakuya interrupted quite loudly.

"W-Wha?!" Chi was naturally taken aback by his tone and interruption.

"I would think that the Ultimate Programmer would have some sense as to why that is wrong. Very well, allow me to reeducate you. You clearly need it." Byakuya said

"You say that it is impossible for a girl to be the culprit,  
However that is simply incorrect.  
The culprit could have easily taken the dumbbell from the girl’s room.  
Then they attacked their victim in the pool.  
Lastly, they placed the male's dumbbell in the female's holder and hid the murder weapon."

I know something is incorrect about that statement, although I'm not sure if Chi picked up on it. I'll have to help him out! "Let me cut to the chase!" Everyone was pretty shocked at my sudden outburst, but I did something similar in the last class trial, so they'll just have to get used to it. "There was no blood or anything relating to the murder anywhere in the pool area, apart from the mat anyway, and there wasn't the smell of bleach or anything either, so we can't assume that it was simply cleaned up and a girl couldn't attack him due to the rule about not going into changing rooms." I countered.

"That would be correct. Glad to see someone has common sense." Byakuya replied, was he testing us, or did he really think that? So, our suspect has to be male, and not me. So that leaves Byakuya, Mondo and Leon. I don't think Chi could have done it, he was with me before I died, and with the rule of first-person dead is the only culprit that everyone has to find, that means then I must have been attacked second, so the secret of the extra room wouldn't come out. Which one out of them seems the most likely? I'd have to depend on the murder weapon. I should honestly ask about that.

"Hey, about the dumbbell that's gone missing. Who do you think could lift that?" I asked calmly.

The person to respond to this was Hina, although she did sound a little confused "Err, that's the second biggest one, right? Then I think Mondo, Leon, Me and Sakura are the only people with the strength to lift it up. So that means that the only two people that could have done it are Mondo and Leon, alright then! It's definitely Leon!" Hina shouted. Leon reacted in a rather shocked manner, as he most likely didn't want to be accused of murder again.

"H-Hey! There's no evidence for me being the killer! You can't just accuse someone on a whim!" Leon shouted.

"Well, Mondo wouldn't kill Kiyotaka, so you have to be his killer!" Hina fought back. True it does seem like Mondo wouldn't kill Kiyotaka. But maybe...

"I think Kiyotaka could have lifted the murder weapon." I lied. Honestly, I'm not fully sure if he could or not, but I need to get Leon off the hook for now. If he isn't the murder, then we're in big trouble! "So maybe, Kiyotaka lifted it up in self-defense, however the killer managed to take him out before he could."

"Woah now! Bro isn’t like that! He would want to control everyone beforehand! If he went to violence, then this place would go into riot or something!" Mondo countered almost immediately. Wait, riot, where have I heard that before? However, he also added something else. "I'm just so confused. He went back to room at night time... he always does, I saw him fucking doing it..." He seemed really sad, but there's something odd about that. I should point it out.

"You've never mentioned anything about that during the investigation!?"

Sakura, however, came to his quick defense. "It seems that he forgot to mention it to you. However, he did tell some other people about it, like Byakuya and Kyoko for examples." This was an odd surprise, I should remember it for later, as it's directly contradicted by Celeste and the watch.

"Hmph, getting back on track. I would like to add onto Makoto's theory, I have an idea of the culprit. A serial killer that goes by the name, Genocide Jack." Byakuya continued to help me? Still, if Genocide Jack is the culprit of this case, then that would make things a lot easier.

"There's a serial killer in the school!" Leon screamed out. Yeah that seems about the right reaction for that. There was mumbling throughout the room. Understandable really, it would be unbelievable in most circumstances, but we're also all the greatest at our craft before we're 20, so who knows, it could happen.

Chihiro looked really panicked and at the same time really upset as he quietly and sadly said "But who would want to kill lots of people, that's just cruel!" Tears are almost forming in his eyes, and it's making me want to run over and tell him he's going to be OK, but I don't know if now's a good time. Why did he have to be so far away from me...

"Hmph, don't be so naive, there are many reasons why someone would take another's life, use your head for once in your life and think. Why would someone kill someone else?" That "hmph"ing is getting really annoying now, and I can feel a twitch in my eye.

"OI! Leave her alone! Just because she understands that people don't deserve to be murdered doesn't mean that she's an idiot! Maybe if you had a heart, you'd understand why other people matter!" I yelled out almost uncontrollably.

"But other people don't matter to me Makoto, that's how I've lived my life and how I'll continue to live it. Besides we're wasting time with this so let's drop the subject." It took everything I had to not blow up at that statement. Yet, I still feel that I should add something.

"You know who Genocide Jack is, don't you? You told me about them and took me to... oh god" I felt a shiver go through my spine his smirk told me everything I needed to know. He figured out her identity, but then. I looked at Toko, she was Genocide Jack?

"Well, what are you waiting for? Come on I don't have all day." Byakuya said...

My body's beginning to shiver uncontrollably, please let me wrong please! "T-Toko Fukawa, are you Genocide Jack?"

"W-WHAT? OF COURSE NOT!" She shrieked out. OK thank god. Now we can continue with this as per normal.

"Why are you looking so happy all of a sudden Makoto? Just because she says she's not the murder doesn't mean it's true. In fact, I'll proof it to you." He was surprisingly calm as a took out a prick and stabbed his finger. There was a lot of things going through my mind, but then he flicked some blood on Toko, which has so many things wrong with it I can't even know where to start. This caused Toko to scream due to her haemophobia, however she then fainted!

"WHAT THE FUCK BYAKUYA?!" Shouted Mondo which pretty much summed up everyone's reactions. The Affluent Progeny simply put 3 fingers up, then put one down and then another one and then he was soon holding no fingers up.

Before I could get a grasp on what he was doing a voice came out that sounded very, very interesting. "Why hello everyone! My name's Genocide Jack, why did they call me that, I don't know, maybe they thought I was a guy!" Toko shouted and single-handily shot down my theory. Still she did seem weirder. Her Hair was more messed up, her eyes were crazy, and her tongue was incredibly long. Still, maybe questioning her won't be the worst thing.

I gotta take a deep breath before this though, and then I started to question her. Oh, boy here we go! "So, err, Genocide Jack-"

"Please just call me Genocide Jill." She said with a surprisingly calm look on her face. She looked somewhat happy, happier than I've ever seen Toko... oh god. I should start off simple. I'm honestly not sure of her intelligence.

"Alright then, Genocide Jill, so err, did you see Kiyotaka last night?" I could feel a bead of sweat running down my face...

"Nope! Not even sure why I'd want to see him honestly. FYI I only kill cute boys, not annoying ones!" Great, if I want to survive here, I'm gonna have to be annoying now? A part of me wants to ask about who's on her annoying list, but not right now.

"Then how do you explain Kiyotaka's corpse. It's eerily similar to how you kill your victims is it not?" I asked simply. I'm very scared, and I think since I'm the only one talking here, that everyone else shares my sentiment.

"Well listen here 'Koto!" WHY DID SHE SAY THAT NAME!? "It's not exactly the same, it seems like a crappy knock off if you ask me!" It's a fake?

"Well, why don't you tell us what's different and then we'll be on our way."

"Pfft, NO! As if I'd make it that easy for you 'Koto. You've gotta earn your correct answer."

"Two things, please stop calling me 'Koto, it's starting to scare me a little bit since the original intent of that nickname was one out of love and I don't think I'd want to be loved by a SERIAL KILLER. Secondly fine." I had to lay down my deal before anything else. She rolled her eyes, so I hope she got the message. I passed the book of her crimes around clockwise. Kyoko got it and took a 5 second glance at it and said,

"The victims in the pictures are pinned to the wall by scissors. They seem to be custom made, as I've never seen scissors strong enough to pin someone to concrete." She was almost too calm about saying this... does she have experience?

Leon was the one to question this though, "Alright, so even if I did get to see the book and that is correct, where the hell would "Genocide Jack" get custom made scissors in here. We had everything taken away from us, so why would she be a special case?"

"KYAHAHAHA! Well then Leon, want a special demonstration?" Her very long tongue threw saliva everywhere, and I was lucky I that Hifumi's place was in-between my own. But that wasn't the thing that scared me the most. She reached out into her thighs and then shouted "I'll give it to ya for a special discount! FREE!" To which she pulled out a pair of scissors, the same ones as in the pictures! "So, Leon, ready or not, here I come! KYAHAHAHA!" Leon practically screamed out in terror, but I can't really concentrate on him now, since I know she was framed...

"Byakuya Togami! You framed Toko didn't you!" I pointed at him accusingly, it's the only explanation!

He simply said "Yep." That was surprisingly easy... But wait, why would he admit to doing that?

"So, you're the one that killed Taka!" Hina shouted after his short statement, to which Byakuya had a smirk on his face, which seemed to indicate the opposite.

"Can you give us testimony at least?" I asked calmly. He glared at me for no reason. Honestly, I don't know why that was deserved. Although to the side of him, I saw Chi who was in stunned silence, tears are clearly forming in his eyes again... I know you can't hear me, but please say strong, just for a little longer, OK?

"Hmph, very well. I was reading a book in the library until around midnight, as I left, I saw a shadow leave the pool area. Feeling curious, I went on in and found Kiyotaka's body on the ground of the boy's bathroom. I had recently found out the identity of the serial killer known as Genocide Jack, so I decided to mess around with the crime scene, although I did not move the poster, that was gone before I started. I moved his body and the mat he was on to the pool and wrote Bloodlust on the wall. Noticeably, I saw that the murder weapon that killed him was gone after I left and came back to get the wire to keep him held, but apart from that, nothing was really changed." He explained, however, before I could ask about the shadow, there was a loud shout in the room, coming from a person that no one really expected.

"HOW CAN YOU BE SO CRUEL!" The shouter was Chihiro, who's face is wet with tears. "W-Why would you even consider doing that, don't you have any respect, don't you care that Kiyotaka was a person, with hopes and dreams and you just used his body like a ragdoll for no reason! Did you hate him that much that you've unperson him or do you just not care about anyone else in the world!"

"Hmph, I don't see how it is any different from a murderer altering a crime scene to suit their needs, if you put your energy into finding the culprit, then you might be a little more useful in trials." He is practically scoffing at Chi now, which did not help the situation out at all.

I think I know what's about to happen though, so I decided to go towards Chihiro, in order to help him calm down "You're right, it isn't different from a murder, it's just as bad! Also, why would I want to be useful in an environment where someone has to die to get it started and then we have to send someone else to go die! I hate this stupid, stupid thing! I thought you were a good person and yet you use other people for your own gain and you have no respect for the people that are dying around you! I... I..." He's practically screaming his lungs out right now. Before any other words came out, I hugged him from behind, "H-Huh, 'K-Koto?" I started to walk slowly away from the current location with him wrapped around my arms. I think he was a little confused but still slightly went along with it.

As I slightly unwrapped my arms around from him, I then decided to hold his hand and decided to walk off, although he didn't really seem to want to move, but went along anyway. I turned to look at everyone else with a small smile on my face "I'm gonna help Chihiro calm down for a few minutes. You guys continue without me, you'll be fine." Everyone quietly nodded in response.

"B-But I-"

"No buts Chi, besides, we won't be gone for long." I interrupted before he could get started.

"Wait one second, who said you could leave?" Monokuma said with a roar. He's starting to somewhat act like a bear at least. Nevertheless, this is the easiest argument I've ever had to refute.

"We won't be leaving the room, just standing next to the door, besides, there's no rules stating we can't do it is there?" Monokuma fell silent, which works for me. I took him next to the elevator and then placed my arms around him. "It's OK to let your emotions out now. No one's going to judge you, I promise."

He didn't hesitate to let his emotions out, he leaned in and held me as he put his head to my chest and cried. His sounds were muffled, but I could tell the heartbreak in his voice. I decided that the best way to comfort him would to just let him cry while I hugged him back. It usually works for me, so I think that'd be the best way to help him out. However, I could hear everyone else in the background. Until Chi says something, I might as well listen in. Sayaka was the first to speak. "Err, so since Makoto and Chihiro have been taken out of the trial for now, what should we do now?"

"Byakuya should tell us more about the shadow, it could give us a clue onto who the murderer is." Sakura pointed out with her usual calmness.

"Hmph, that would make it almost too easy wouldn't now?" He claimed, though I really don't think that should be his priority right now, as our lives are at stake!

"Seriously? Dude your ego is so massive that it would block out the sun!" Junko shouted. I don't like where this is going.

"He raises a good point, if we were given the answers right away, what happens if an unrelating killer comes along. What will you do if they didn't have a witness, we would have to figure it out ourselves. This should be good practice for us." Celeste pointed out to everyone.

Despite that, Hina countered that point with one of her own. "Well it's not going to matter if we get the answer because no one else is going to get murdered!"

"H-How naive can you get! Of course, s-someone else is going to die!" Toko responded.

"Ok, ok, I see what's happening here! You're face to face with an argument and it's strange, you don't know which side you're on. It's adorable! Well, it's nice to see teenagers never change, but it's time for a Scrum Debate!" Monokuma said with glee.

"Please no." Kyoko said with the most panic on her voice I've ever heard.

"Please yes! I don't even care that the loli and the ahoge guy aren't even in this, let's get it rolling!" Monokuma replied with glee, and after about thirty seconds everyone went up into the sky. It took everything I had to not start weeping at that moment. I couldn't hear what else was happening now between everyone else, however as all this was happening, Chi was calming down, maybe now it's a good time to try to talk to him.

I've gotta be careful and quick about this though, I'm not sure how much longer everyone is going to keep sane "You gonna be OK?"

"I-I'm sorry..." He's still weeping, although not as much as before. "If I hadn't overreacted to what happened, y-you'd still be able to help everyone."

"You've got nothing to apologize for. It's Byakuya's fault that he decided to mess up the crime scene and you just reacted like anyone would. Listen, we all hate the killing and murdering and we want nothing more than it to just end. Chi, you want to become strong right? Then don't give up now, you can do it! I know you can. You're not just anyone, you're an Ultimate, they may have given you that for programming, yeah, but the fact is that you were dedicated enough to get a title from the biggest school in the world, doing something that you love and makes you happy, no normal person can do that! Listen, what I'm trying to say is, chin up! You can't blame yourself for being in here and choosing what you do, because it's Monokuma's fault." I responded, with another speech. God how are people not annoyed at me by this point.

It seemed to work though as he stopped sobbing and pulled himself away from me, I saw a look of determination on his face. "Yeah, you're right! Sure, I don't agree with Byakuya, but that doesn't matter, I want to change, and I want to become strong enough to protect everyone and make sure no more killings happen, so I can't let that bother me. Sorry for taking you out of the trial though..." He's still apologizing though, one step at a time I suppose. He turned around to see the Scrum Debate going on and got a look of extreme confusion. "Huh? Why is there a Scrum Debate going on?"

If I'm gonna tell him what happened, I need to phrase it in a way where I can say it quick enough to not facepalm myself before I finish the sentence. "Byakuya didn't want to tell everyone about a shadow and now everyone's arguing about it." To which his look of confusion only intensified.

"I-I... This is why you're needed in the class trial 'Koto. I'm going to have to apologize for taking you out of the trial." He somberly and yet somehow snarky said.

"Nah, I think they should take it as a lesson to not upset you."

"But isn't that selfish?" He's getting a little more upset now... oops.

"And it's selfish to mess with a body or make other people upset, but I don't see Byakuya calling himself selfish. Sorry, are you ready to go back now?" There was a small pause before he responded.

"Yeah. I don't want to send someone else to their death, but I have to make sure that no one else gets hurt." I still don't like the fact that he's pushing the blame onto himself, but we've got plenty of time to discuss that later. Thankfully the podiums were coming down, so we went in front of our original places. As it came down, everyone looked various degrees of annoyed.

Hina was the most clearly upset though. "Seriously, why are you guys so dumb sometimes! We could have ended this right now and we wasted all the time debating anyway! How much time do we have left anyway?" She's practically ranting, although, I think I could do a little trap. Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't, but it's a low risk high reward tactic so I don't mind.

I only have to say one thing and look at the reaction people give. "Eighteen Minutes. I've been keeping track." I said that pretty quickly, as I didn't want to be questioned that much right now. Most of them looked normal however someone reacted in a way that sealed their fate.

"E-Eighteen?" The stammer was unusual, which further proved that Mondo knew something about that number.

"Is that number weird Mondo?" Sayaka asked innocently. To which Mondo remained quiet for a few seconds before replying,

"No" This calmed everyone else down. However, it seems my luck paid off again. I don't want to have an over-reliance on my luck honestly, I can't let the luck balance of the universe tip to one side or else it's going to force itself onto the other side.

However, no one's talking right now. Hopefully I can catch their attention, "No that's wrong!" Which got me a lot of huhs and questioning looks from the others. Though, Mondo started to look a little worried. "Mondo, we both know why that's wrong. Besides you've been lying for a while. Care to explain yourself, or am I going to have to show the truth?" There was a silence in the room. If Mondo wasn't hiding something, he'd point out how much of a dumbass I was or swear at me. Something's up. "Well?"

"Don't fuck with me." He was surprisingly calm when he said that, and it only continued. "What on earth could the number eighteen have to do with anything in the trial." To this, I sighed. There's only one way the trial's heading now.

"Hey, I think it's going to be best if I talk a lot now, so I'm going to request no interruptions until I'm done. Mondo, you know Kiyotaka's secret don't you. And I also know something that contradict one of your previous statements. You said Kiyotaka never went to exercise and went to bed at the nighttime announcement, however I can prove that to be a false statement. Kiyotaka always wore a watch underneath his shirt, I found it while searching his body and the time was 11.30. If that wasn't enough, I have a witness who saw him." I said as I pointed at Celeste. She simply nodded and motioned her hand to allow me to continue. "Secondly, I checked the male bags in the store house and only found two sizes, one for Byakuya and one for Leon. So, where did Kiyotaka's bag go? I have mine in my room from the time I forgot my swimwear however, that doesn't mean Leon, you or Kiyotaka used them for swimming. Simple, they are workout bags, so naturally they'd have workout clothes in them so he and used have used them for that purpose. Does anyone have any questions? I want to be wrong, but until these are cleared up, Mondo is the prime suspect to me." I finished that off. I waited for a rebuttal and it was pretty quick, although it was from someone I didn't expect.

"KYAHAHAHA! Oh, that's a good one! You touched a dead boy and you know the sizes of all the boys here, got any answers for that?! Please be what I'm thinking, please be what I'm thinking!" That was Genocide Jill, guess she still has Toko's dirty thoughts. But shoot! What do I do, I can't just say the real reason, Chi's secret will be found out, but I can't drop the subject, then all of this will be for nothing!

"Makoto, are you OK?" Sayaka asked me while putting her hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, you're sweating faster than a broken sink and you're whiter than a recently cleaned sink" Junko added, however it feels like my hearts about to sink or something. Alright, Alright, you've lied before you can do it again!

As the thoughts swam around my head, I eventually stopped on an answer that I think I could use. “A-Alright. Until about last year, I thought I was gay. I still feel more attraction to boys than girls but now I've realized I'm Bisexual. So, I've seen a lot of guys topless and I-I can tell their shirt sizes somewhat. Besides Leon, Byakuya and Kiyotaka aren't the exact same size, there's a clear difference between the three, if you know where to look." That should work, and most of it's the truth, so it should fly.

"KYAHAHAHA! I KNEW IT! Someone in here had to be gay, although I was expecting a girl rather than a boy, but I'm more pleased with this outcome. Hey, if you fuck a boy, can I watch, please?" Genocide Jill quipped, although her question seemed genuine, which just turned this situation even worse. I saw Chi beginning to panic a little, for good reason. However, Hina was here to help the situation out.

"Huh, didn't realize that, guess that explains why you didn't want to get changed in front of everyone else. Sorry about that 'Koto, but why didn't you come out earlier, did you think we were gonna be homophobic towards you, because if anyone even thought about that, they'd get more punches to the face than the amount of dounts I've eaten!"

"Oh yeah. Tell everyone that you're more gay than straight while they all think that I want to date a girl, two of those people are the strongest people I've ever met, and I didn't want to hurt Chi or anyone else anyway. Can we not talk about this please, I'm about to send someone to their death unless people can speak up? I DON'T NEED THIS ON MY CONSCIENCE!" Everyone that counted seemed a little worried about me, but I think they realize if they want me to talk about it more, I'll gladly do it after the trial. However, that clearly wasn't on someone's mind.

"You didn't answer my question 'Koto, are you gonna let me watch if you fuck a boy? God, I wish Chi was a boy, then it'd be easy to get you two together." Genocide Jill said, causing Chi to go wide-eyed. Hopefully everyone took that as him reacting to his nickname being said and not the other thing.

"No. Besides I'd rather wait until I'm an adult until that happens." I was frim yet quiet with my answer, however the response from Jill caught me off guard.

"Really? Nope, I've seen all sorts of teenagers and adults in my long travels and you're definitely not a teenager for numerous reasons. However, I'm bored of this class trial stuff can we get on with the show or something please now?" Jill said before figurately zipping her mouth... I've got no time to worry about what she just said.

Still, the person countering was Chihiro this time. "S-Sorry 'Koto, but I don't think that's entirely right. You've got no proof that Kiyotaka didn't use a bag unlike you. Until we can get some confirmation that he didn't use a bag, then this theory doesn't have that much proof." However, what I didn't expect was for someone to defend me.

"No, I think Makoto's right on this one. I saw Makoto rush out of the changing room for a reason I didn't know at the time, so he doesn't know this, but I saw Kiyotaka grab the swimwear from the lockers. Mondo and I also used the same lockers to store our stuff and we both saw him take his swimwear out of the locker and there were no training bags in the room. Makoto didn't bring a bag either, he just took his swimwear." Leon countered.

We all stared at Mondo for confirmation, to which he said, "Yeah, that's right. He used the locker swimwear, and I lied about him being at bed for the nighttime announcement." He seems really somber. Nevertheless, there's one person who's starting to crack under this the most.

"B-But that doesn't mean you killed him... right Mondo?" Chihiro seems almost desperate here. There was a silence that lasted for way too long. "Y-You wouldn't kill Kiyotaka... right. You two were Bros! You were going to change the world together, show the world that strength on the outside and the inside were important... right? You were going to teach me how to become stronger when I got out of here, right? To protect people that I care about... Why aren't you defending yourself! Makoto's asked to be wrong, why aren't you helping him by proving him wrong!" Chi was getting louder, and more tears were running down his face, and he was met by silence.

"She's asked, hasn't she? A real man never hurts a woman, right? So, aren't you going to prove me wrong... please?" Please, Ultimate Luck come and help me again, please prove to me that this is a huge misunderstanding. There was a little more silence. No one really knew what to say at this point. If time was running close, they would just vote for Mondo so people who didn't care were just waiting around, and people who did care couldn't bring themselves to say anything. Until finally,

"You're right, a real man never hurts a woman. I am the killer, I've been hurting everyone here by lying and making his longer than it fucking needs to be. He should have never known me, I'm a bad influence on everyone that I met... please just end it, I don't want to live with the guilt of killing my Bro anymore." That was it. The words hit me like a runaway train, he confessed to killing Kiyotaka, just like that. "Listen, Makoto. I know it's a big ask. But please, make sure there's no room for any debate. Dude, I'm giving you the fucking honor of sending me to my grave, I've met a lot of people that have wanted to do this, but I want it to be someone that I like. I know it's a big ask man, but you're the only one with the strength and kindness to do it." And now he's wanting me to wrap everything up...

"Alright. There's not much to go over, since this case was pretty simple. The case started last night, when Monokuma gave out the motive to everyone about their secrets. Wanting to help everyone, I suggested to have a secret swap of sorts in the cafeteria. The victim was one of the few people who came to the swap, where I found out his secret and gave him one of my own. After giving away his secret, he got a burst of confidence and went to try and do the same thing with other people. The people included Celeste, Kyoko, Chi and some other people, including the culprit. Due to the close bond between the two, the victim kept asking about his secret. He kept on doing his thought the night. Eventually, the victim and the culprit agreed to share secrets somehow, however this caused something to happen between the two in order to make the culprit attack the victim. The culprit realizing what he had done, panicked and threw away the poster on the wall, but kept the crime scene mostly the same. He eventually left the crime scene in a panic, as Byakuya noticed him and decided to up the stakes. He got the extension cord for his lamp and warped it around Kiyotaka in the pool and wrote Bloodlust on the wall to pin the blame on one Genocide Jack, or Toko. Around the same time, I did get attacked, however if it was an intentional red herring or not is impossible to tell. However, Byakuya changing the crime scene or someone attacking someone else doesn't change anything, as the culprit in this case is none other than Mondo Owada, the Ultimate Gang Leader." I stopped to catch my breath, and then just sighed. It was over, but now he's going to die in a painful way.

"Well, well, well. Are we ready to vote! Remember not voting results in death, so vote wisely kiddos!" Monokuma said with a chipper tone. However most of us weren't chipper at all. Our podiums had sprite art of each of us on it, I pressed Mondo's picture right away, as I didn't want to drag out the pain. Understandably though, it took almost the entire thirty seconds for it to be over. The same process as last time happened, just landing on Mondo's face this time. "Welp, that's not a big surprise. Yep Mondo was the bad guy this time around. Did you seriously expect someone so quick to anger to survive? God no, that'd be dumb." Nevertheless, I think we all agreed as a group to ignore the bear of death, unhappiness and despair.

We stared at Mondo, we wanted to know what had happened, but at the same time, we didn't want to cause him more pain before he died. He stayed quiet before saying this. "Listen, my bro would want me to give you all life advice or some shit so here we go. Byakuya, don't be a fucking asshole, you're not making any friends doing that. Toko, try to socialize more or something. Sakura and Aoi... I've got nothing for you two. Chihiro and Makoto, just be happy OK, and make sure to take her on a date or some shit before you die... I don't fucking know what I'm doing, I'm disgracing his memory here. He could help any of you out if we were swapped, but nope, I had to be the one to fuck up like usual. Whatever, just send me to my grave, there's nothing more to see or say." Mondo said quietly. We all had different reactions to this ranging from eyerolls to tears, but unfortunately Monokuma still exists.

"Nothing more to see or say, you say? Well that's odd, because I have the moment of death recorded in my mind and it's juicy stuff!" Mondo wanted to interrupt, but Monokuma kept on talking. "So, they met at around 11.15pm, pretty darn late if you ask me, and they were having a good old-time training and stuff, when the MC decided to ask again and again about secrets, eventually, good old Mondo decided to just give up and let him talk. Now Kiyotaka was always like 'We have to make our school and country the greatest in the world' and like the idiot he was he thought that everyone should be happy and honest with one other. After all, getting his secret of his chest felt great! Clearly that would work for everyone!" Monokuma sang out. So, I accidently caused Taka's death and causing that allowed me to kill Mondo too... "So eventually, Kiyotaka said this masterpiece of a line 'Kiyotaka Ishimaru, was responsible for a school riot in fifth grade that got 18 people badly injured.' then we went on a tangent on how he had to be strong enough to stop anyone else from getting hurt, however he then made a grave mistake, he complemented Mondo on his strength, and Mondo didn't like that so he hit Kiyotaka over the head and then he caught the dead. But that's strange right, why would Mondo kill? Maybe it has something to do with his secret?" he had sly voice to him this time and Mondo had a mix of fury and sadness on his face, which was the exact opposite of Monokuma's expression, which was one of glee and laughter. "Well, here's an extra secret, free of charge. 'Mondo Owada was responsible for his brother's death!'" We all then looked at Mondo with an expression of shock. Now we understood why he snapped, his short temper and the fact that he was being constantly reminded of this brother's death gave the perfect explanation as to why. What could we do or say, we looked at Mondo, in the small hope that he would give some answers although we weren't expecting much.

"I-It was a fucking accident..." The quiet voice was from Mondo, who decided to tell us what had happened. We all stood and listened "It was just supposed to be a normal drag race. I needed to prove that I could be the leader as my bro... Daiya Owada... was planning to go and live his life. He even was supposed to come to this fucking school and become something great... Then I got reckless and ran on the road, he knocked me off the road, but the impact killed him. We needed to keep it a secret, it had to be an accident, we needed the group to stay in one goddamn piece. But now, I'm guessing that'll never happen. Daiya was a true leader, like Taka... and now I've gone and killed them both... Just send me to my grave already." He explained. He sounded lost and hopeless, as in his will to live was nonexistent and the fact that his face was plainly facing the floor further confirmed that thought. Looking around I saw no one was smiling at least. Chi, Hina and Leon were taking it the hardest, as far as I could tell anyway.

"Welp, you've asked for it Now it's the time you've all been waiting for! It's time for the Punishment! It's execution time!" Monokuma said with the most joy in his voice since the last time he got to do that. The button was pressed, and a chain grabbed Mondo's neck, pulling him out of sight. Meanwhile on the screen, a pixel Monokuma appeared pulling a sprite of Mondo out of sight. We were told to enter the same room as last time, however this time he said, "If you don't go in, you'll be executed very painfully, so I'd advise getting in pretty quickly." Before he disappeared somehow. Some of us didn't hesitate, meanwhile others took a while longer, but I couldn't move, my feet were firmly planted on the floor and I was shivering like a leaf. Then I was caught off guard by Kyoko of all people coming back out to help me walk into the room. She didn't show much emotion on her face, so I can't really tell why she did it, but I felt my feet moving, although there was still a lot of resistance. Eventually, I reached the room and the light turned on. I saw Mondo on a bike, tied to it and he was on a bridge above a highway of sorts. To say there where a lot of cars on there would be an understatement. Then Monokuma appeared and pushed a button, causing a part of the bridge to create a slope. Then a new title card appeared.

"Fright to the Finish Line! Execution of Mondo Owada the Ultimate Gang Leader"

Monokuma then tied Mondo's foot to the accurate pad and turned his bike onto the highest gear, which means he's going to keep on speeding ahead and there's no stopping him. Mondo then speed ahead uncontrollably. He was about to crash head first into a truck, however in an act of quick thinking, he leaned to one side to expertly dodge the truck, and while it took some effort to push himself back up, he was able to do it somehow. Then there were smaller cars that he had to do the same in rapid succession, which cause him to start sweating. If it was out of nervousness or tiredness, we'll never know. He kept this up until the sounds of multiple gang members wearing Monokuma masks came riding in and started attacking Mondo with knife slashes and gunshots. However due to Mondo's speed being insanely fast, it was nigh impossible for them to land a hit, and if they did, nothing really happened, as the high speed kept him distracted. That was until a giant oil truck suddenly took up the entire road, causing Mondo to crash into it and explode, destroying the bike and leaving behind nothing but his coat, to add insult to injury, the Monokuma bikers beat up what was left of Mondo, meanwhile Monokuma caught up to the action on a kiddy bike, but none of that mattered. Mondo Owada was dead. There was nothing left of him so there was no way that he survived that.

The screen turned off and a light turned on. Everyone regained their composure and walked into the trial room. I followed suit, although my steps were shaky. "BWAHAHA! Now that was a show! See you all here next time, I bet the next one's going to be even better!" My feet were shaking a lot more than they've ever done.

"Quiet." Everyone else turned to look at Byakuya who had spoken up against Monokuma. I didn't have the energy, my legs gave out causing me to fall on to them, but that didn't stop the shaking.  "I will end this game once and for all. I was wondering who the biggest problems would be to that front, however most of you disappointed me. The only two that would be a major problem in a trial would be Kyoko and Makoto, who as you can see, is a spineless wimp. Therefore, this game will game easily, with me as it's victor, and after that, you're next Monokuma, you have angered a Togami, and people that have angered members of our family must be terminated." I didn't even have the energy to get upset. However, he did get everyone's attention on me, whether that's good or not is something I'm not really worried about. Monokuma had something to say to all that though.

"Wow! You're such a main character. Like in those RPGs that kids play now, you know all those edgy characters with their spiky hair. Anyway, two things, one, I'm gonna open up new areas, they'll be open by the time you get out of the elevator, secondly, I'm going to update the Monopads. There's gonna be a new feature where you can see where everyone else is and another feature where you can send messages to your friends. These functions will be turned off at some points to increase the dramatic attention but use these new toys in whatever ways you want! Have fun kiddos!" Monokuma left again. This isn't exactly fun now is it. The elevator opened, but my body didn't want to move, yet I have to. Mondo died here, Hifumi died here. Kiyotaka and Yasuhiro died because of this place, I can't stay here. I know I'm most likely over reacting but what can I do. Though, I felt someone picking me up.

"Huh!?" I was brought back to reality as a I saw myself being picked up by Sakura, who either didn't notice my surprise, or decided it wasn't important.

"Are you sure you don't want me to take him, Hina?"

"Nope, it's fine. 'Koto, hold on tight, OK?" Both girls were soft with their voices, which made them pleasant to listen to, at least.

As I was lifted on to Hina's back, I could only quietly say "ok". Although I didn't really hold on tight, more of just holding on tight enough to not fall off. Then they walked onto the elevator as it went up. As it went up, I found myself at a crossroads, do I just go to bed for the rest of the day, or should I hang out with someone?

Deadly Life 2 - Complete.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So do you wanna know something funny? Mondo's my third favourite character. I just like his character a lot and you know he's a nice guy deep down, he's just got a bad temper. Which unfortunately gets him and someone else killed. Sure it's simple, but I can relate. Not to the killing nor the good looking body (hey, a guy can say he finds another guy good looking), but I can still relate. Also he likes dogs, that's OK by me! Still I didn't plan this murder out well at all. At least I figured out a cheap way to write myself out of a concer now! Yeah, I'll work harder for the next time it happens. See you all later, next chapter's gonna be a bit shorter, since this one ended up being way longer than planned. But here's something that shows how messed up I am, do you want to know what song I listened to while writing Mondo's execution? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5NnzsQY-Wk  
> Yeah, I may be messed up in the head. (If you don't know, it's the Star Allies Remix of Kirby 64's opening stage, aka the happiest song in existence.)


	10. Day 6: Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second trial is over and having to vote for Mondo isn't exactly a pleasant experience.

The elevator kept going up, for how long I wouldn't know. My energy was still drained from the trial that just happened and I still don't know if my legs are working. No one's talking, which makes sense, a mixture of Byakuya's speech and Mondo's Execution made everyone uncomfortable, although I was surprised at the fact that no one noticed I was being carried by Hina, maybe they did notice, and they didn't say anything. I wouldn't know...

  
The elevator stopped after a while and everyone walked out, to do whatever they needed to do. I suppose I should ask to be let down. "Hey, do you want me to get off now?" When I spoke, I noticed how my quiet my voice was, which felt odd to be so quiet. It's quite the contrast from earlier when I was dealing the final argument. Hina turned back and her expression became a lot sadder as she saw my face, was my expression really that depressing?

  
"Hey, before you do get off, do you have any plans for the rest of the day?" I hadn't thought about that, apart from going to my room and crying, I don't really have any other plans.

  
"No..."

  
"Then maybe you should come hang out with us. I don't want you to be alone, after you fell into that state in the trial room, you couldn't even move 'Koto, I don't think you'd be safe in this state, so I'm taking you with me OK?" She sounded soft yet her words kind of scared me. Does this count as a kidnapping? I don't really have any power here, so I guess I'm going now.

  
"OK..." That is generally something you don't say when you're being kidnapped, but I can trust Hina, although she's still not stopping to let me down. "Aren't you getting tired?"

  
"Nope!" That was surprisingly energetic compared to a few seconds ago. I guess she's happy now that she's going to hang out with me, I guess. She carried me into the cafeteria and sat me down, and I felt the temptation to just run away growing in my mind at a rapid pace, but at the same time I don't want to upset Hina, she's trying to help, so I should try to help myself. But what can I do, maybe I just need time to heal? But then again, we don't have much time left in our lives so maybe that's not the best course of action either. I just want to know if anyone else is feeling the way I do, does anyone relate to my guilt? I've only seen Chi have an outburst over this, but maybe everyone else is dealing with it their own way? I noticed Hina was looking at me with a worried expression, however again as per usual, she turned that expression upside down. "Hey, why don't you sit tight OK! I'll make myself some dounts and you some pancakes, that'll cheer us up!" Before I could say anything though, she ran into the kitchen leaving me by myself. I really didn't have anything else to do, so I decided to check out the Monopad's new features. As it turned out, there was a new option saying "Chat!" which honestly seems kind of pointless when we're so close together, but I guess it could be useful for planning events, but I don't plan on using it much. However, the more useful option was under the school map. Where everyone's locations were. I was amazed by the fact that the only people on the third floor were Junko and Celeste in the REC room, whatever that is. Byakuya and Toko were in the library, I guess he's someone that isn't benefiting from this. Now that I think about it, Genocide Jill is going to be a problem for Chi isn't she. Freaking wonderful. I noticed that Chi, Sayaka and Leon were in their respective rooms and Sakura was moving towards mine and Hina's location, guess I accidently ruined that surprise. Sakura then turned up in the room and headed on over to the kitchen, I guess Hina wanted some help with something.

  
For what seemed like forever, I just sat. I didn't want to even think, because if I started to imagine something better, it's just going to hurt more when reality comes crashing down. But I can't drag myself down with thoughts either, so thinking things like "I should have died instead" is out of the question, and there's no way in hell that I'm going to wish death upon anyone in this building. After a while the two girls came out of the kitchen each hold various amounts of food and drink. They placed their carried items on the table I was sitting at and sat down at the table as well. I mean, Hina did make some dounts for herself and pancakes for me, but I honestly don't feel hungry, but it's rude to not eat so I decided to try and eat them anyway, although I admit, I was pretty slow. I'm trying to be grateful, but honestly, it's way harder than normal.

  
"Do you blame yourself for Mondo's death?" When I looked in the direction the calm voice came from, it turned out to be Sakura, unsurprisingly. I can be open with these two, right? Sakura wouldn't judge me, and Hina's someone that I feel comfortable with...

  
"Not just his death..."

  
"Hifumi's as well?"

  
"Yeah, and Kiyotaka's too." I noticed that the two appeared a little shocked at this statement, guess I should explain, "Do you guys remember what Monokuma said before Mondo died?" I didn't let them get a chance to remember, as I sighed and told them anyway "He said 'like the idiot he was he thought that everyone should be happy and honest with one other. After all, getting his secret of his chest felt great! Clearly that would work for everyone' And since I was the reason for everyone telling their secrets, I was the reason Kiyotaka got excited and he-"

  
"You had no way of knowing that Kiyotaka would do something so reckless"

  
"Then I clearly didn't know him at all. If I didn't know he'd do that, then I really didn't deserve to be called his friend." I noticed Hina looking at me with the most confused face, but Sakura decided to keep on talking.

  
"No one can truly predict another's actions. That is what makes people, people. People are a lot more than they appear at first and most have some personality traits that one would not expect at first." Sakura said, and while I feel I should stop trying to shoot her down, since she is trying to help, I can't.

  
"And yet looking back, it makes total sense that Taka would be so reckless."

  
"Well, hindsight is 20/20." Hina replied, which makes sense I guess, looking back is a lot easier than looking towards the future.

  
"Besides, you cannot blame yourself for anything. You don't blame other people for making mistakes, so why blame yourself for doing the right thing." I should know the answer for this, but I can't place my finger on it. Why do I blame myself more than others? I... honestly don't know. "It may hurt to lose... I would know; however, you cannot blame yourself for not doing enough to stop or being indirectly involved in it, that will only make you feel worse."

  
"I know. I know Monokuma would have killed us all if we didn't find Mondo guilty, so we'd have to find it out anyway, but I feel so much guilt. I know it's Monokuma's fault that everything's happening, and I can shift that blame for everyone else... but not myself... Why?" I feel tears forming in my eyes slightly, so I decided to wipe my eyes a little.

  
"That is perfectly normal, it shows that you care about your friends enough to forgive them. The thing you need most is time and judging by how your mood improved from the last trial by sleeping in, it seems that it is the best solution." Sakura stated, although I'm not sure of the validly of her claims. If I remember, I was late to the meeting and the only reason why I bothered to get out of bed was because I was awoken by the bell. Then I saw Chi, and he managed to make my day better...

  
"Maybe" I said, although that was not supposed to leave my mouth yet. I do want to try and learn something about Sakura though, I do enjoy learning about other people... Wait, I've got that wrong, haven't I? Learning everyone's secrets wasn't fun and I was crying after visiting Mondo, but you know what, I feel like it might work. "Hey Sakura, mind if I learn about you, that usually helps calm me down, like what does the Ultimate Martial Artist do exactly?"

  
Luckily for me, she seemed quite calm towards the question and responded with a smile. "Very well. Being the Ultimate Martial Artist means that I have to battle and train constantly for numerous tournaments, all of which I have won, while the training is strenuous, the feeling of accomplishment after winning a tournament is undoubtedly satisfying."

  
"What made you want to become a martial artist anyway?"

  
"A mixture of two things. The first one was because my family owns a Dōjō that has been in the family for over 300 years, it is a family tradition to train vigorously to prove that we are strong. The other reason is to prove to the world that a woman can be the strongest person in the world, and so far, I have succeeded. I have bested my family for years now, and I don't plan on stopping." She was really calm and cool when she said this, honestly, I'm in awe of how impressive her background is. I mean, I'm at the same table as the strongest person on the planet...

  
"That's... amazing!" I know it's a simple backstory, but it's so amazing! How does she even have time to be talking to me right now!? Although, since I'm here, I could ask a quick question, since she's the person that I think could help the most. "Hey, do you think that there will be books about exercising in the library, and if so, what would it be called?"

  
She seemed confused, but thankfully she remained calm "Well, during my quick look at the library, I noticed that there was a sports section, however it is understandable that you haven't really looked in there, since you have had a busy past few days"

  
"O-Oh, right. Yeah, that should have been obvious, sorry. Oh, sorry for saying sorry!" Heh, guess me and Chi aren't so different after all, he's always saying sorry for things that don't matter. I saw Sakura just smiling pleasantly, so I guess she's fine with me, however Hina was a lot more excited.

  
"Wow! You look so much happier now 'Koto!" Heh, guess she's right, I do feel happier. I'm not 100% sure as to why, but I'm not complaining! However, a look of worry suddenly crept to her face as she took a breath. "Hey, can I ask you something? When Toko, I mean Genocide Jack, or Jill, commented about your sexuality you got really panicked, which isn't a good sign, so I've gotta ask, does anyone have a problem with it? Because if so, I'll beat them up!" Huh, didn't expect to get a question this soon, but hey, it's not a big deal. Guess I should just explain.

  
"Nah. It's not a big problem to me and I've never met anyone who had a problem with it and my family's always been supportive of it, so it's honestly not a problem. I was just scared of showing it off due to the fact that everyone thought I was dating Chi for a while, thankfully she was fine with it and then we decided we wanted to become more than friends, so we started dating for real!" I noticed the tone of my voice was improving so that's nice to know. Everyone on the table seemed to notice, which cause both of their moods was also improving.

  
"Oh, so if we want to make you happy, we've just got to talk about Chi! That's great, you've got a pick-me-up and you're everyone else's pick-me-up!" Hina seems pretty happy, and yeah, I think being around Chi generally makes me feel happy, this is a little cheesy isn't it? Ah well.

  
"If you need more time to calm, then we'll be happy to give you it, however I'm glad that we could help somewhat." Sakura said calmly.

  
"Well, I think I just feel like talking and eating for a while." So, we ended up doing the latter, but not really the former, however, as soon as we put our dishes away, we got a surprise.

  
"It is now 10pm and that means it's officially nighttime. Some area's will be closing soon so please leave them as soon as possible!"

  
"Already?" Me and Hina said the same time, therefore proving that I'm not the only one experiencing the faster timer than normal. Seriously what is up with that. We said our good nights and headed off to our rooms. As I got into my room though, I glanced over at the training bag that I had put next to the golden sword earlier yesterday, while I was looking for my swimwear. Kiyotaka died in that room, but he'd most likely not want us to use that as a deterrent to our goals and I personally want to do some training anyway. It might be a fun thing to get into before I die, and I just want to make him happy anyway. I picked up my workout bag and headed off. Everyone else wasn't outside strangely enough, but I pressed on. I should make a quick stop to the library first. As I walked in to the room, I noticed that Byakuya was still inside of the room.

  
"Shouldn't you be in bed? You were attacked last night, and I would prefer not to go through a class trial two days in a row." Glad to see he's fine. I went over to the sports section of the room.

  
"I'd prefer not dying too. But at the same time, my life is so limited now, that I might as well use up as many hours as I can, and if that means going out during the night, then I'm gonna do that." I scanned the row of books until I found one that had the simple title of "Exercising to build up muscles!!!" with the person who wrote it being named Nekomaru Nidai. It seems to have good reviews looking on the back, so I'll take this one.

  
"Hmph, do as you wish. Just don't do anything too stupid. You're one of the few competent people here in a trial, even if you are a spineless wimp." I could punch him into the ground right now, but nah, I've got a life to live. I headed out of the library and headed onto the changing room. Chi wasn't in there yet. Maybe he doesn't want to come, that's fine, I can't blame him at all. Kiyotaka died in here...

  
I got the book for a reason, so I decided to start reading it. It had a lot of the word "SHIT!". Like in what it really means just randomly throughout the book, and a lot of the descriptions is about getting people pumped up, and to be honestly, it's working surprisingly well! I looked at some of the warmup exercises and decided to get changed. Thankfully I was able to take my clothes off and put the workout clothes on before anyone was able to come in. I guess it is time to do some warmups.

  
I wonder, why doesn't Hina have more muscle, she did 6 sports in middle school, all of them really completive for middle schools. Wait, I researched everyone before I got here right? Then wouldn't she have some interviews? Like nearly everyone was a big celebrity because of this. The only exceptions were Kyoko, who for some reason didn't show up, and me, mainly because I didn't want the attention and I could get away from it thanks to the fact that no one would know who I was. So then, why can I remember all that, but not about other things! If someone altered my memories, that could explain somethings, but wouldn't everyone else's get altered too? Are they aware of this or is it just me? Maybe I should ask...

  
No, I don't really want to ask anyone that. I don't want to worry anyone more than I already have. I gotta keep upbeat, upbeat, upbeat, or else I'll be dead meat, dead meat, dead meat! Alright, let's do some pushups! Just got to focus for now, I can do this! "You came!" I turned to the voice, which turned out to be Chi, who was carrying a training bag! "Oh, thank goodness! I didn't think you'd want to come after the trial and I don't think I would be able to train by myself. Besides, if I was alone at night, then I might not be as lucky as you..." He still seemed happy and relieved, although he became a lot more somber as he went on.

  
I'm not going to let him be sad right now, he wants to do this, and so I've got to reignite that determination I saw in his eyes! " Hey, don't be sad right now, not on our first date. If you need me to leave the room or something while you get changed, that's fine."

  
"F-First date!? I thought it'd be a meal out or something!" He was clearly a little shocked by my answer, but he seems to be less sad, so I'll take that as a victory.

  
"Nope! This is our first date now, because you want to get stronger and I want to help you! Besides, I'm just happy to spend time with you, and that's what a date is, right? Well, technically its spending time with someone that you like to see if you want to get married, but still, we can make it romantic if we try hard enough!"

  
"I guess that's true. I'm glad that you're enjoying yourself at least. Although, can I ask you to leave the room for a sec then?" He said pretty quietly. I nodded and headed on outside. I'm not sure how long he'll take to get his clothes off, since I've never worn girl clothes before, but I can't imagine it being super quick, still I hope no one noticed him, at least until he's ready, he struggled to tell me, so I can't imagine him wanting anyone else to know. Hopefully doing this will give him enough courage to tell everyone himself. I felt the door opening from behind me, "Hey, I'm ready." Which caused me to nod again and walk on inside. Thanks to the outfit change, I could see that he has a lot more muscle than it looks like at first glance, hell, if you didn't know any better, you wouldn't be able to tell that he felt weak. He's still really cute though. Although I'm not sure if I should say that out loud.

  
"Alright, first we're gonna do some warm ups, I don't you getting hurt, because then I'll have to carry you everywhere, just some stretches should work here!" So, the two of us got to work, and working out in silence isn't very fun and I think Chi realized that, although his conversation didn't have much fun in it.

  
"I miss Mondo..." He had a really sad expression while talking. "I really respected his strength and the fact that he cared about other people on the inside, he was a softie at heart, he'd help anyone out that needed it and I think he was pretty bad with girls too, I still wonder how he'd react to me being a boy..." He kept on stretching while talking, although he didn't really seem to be straining himself which is good. I decided to start doing the pushups, to which he followed. "I can't help but admire strength of other people, it's just so impressive that they can push themselves to work out all the time and well, I kind of like guys with strong builds..." He went a little quieter here, but I felt I had to interrupt.

  
"OH, HO HO! Well then, it's a good thing I'm exercising then, I wouldn't want to have anyone steal you away from me!" His reaction was one of pure shock and horror at what he thought I meant.

  
"Wait I didn't mean it like that! I'm so sorry if you took it that way!" Oops, maybe my joke didn't land as well as I hoped.

  
"Hey, calm down OK? I like strong builds too, besides I'm glad to be exercising, it can be fun, and in a way, it's just us time you know, where you can be a guy and talk about guy things. Sorry that my joke was a little too insensitive... I miss everyone too. Kiyotaka and Mondo both tried to help me when I was feeling upset, Mondo tried to help us get together and Kiyotaka helped me with my self-depreciation issues... They've just been some of the greatest friends you could ask for, even if my gut and ears disagree with that." Both of us started to go quieter with every word that passed.

  
"Kiyotaka's also been nice to me. He's always trying to get me to share my secret, but he really cares about us and hoping that we'll get on well and that's really respectable. I don't think that'll happen now." Chihiro seemed to get sadder as well. Oh, my lord I just want to hug him and say it's going to be alright. Maybe I can try to do that.

  
"Kiyotaka wouldn't want us to be sad and I'm 90% sure that Mondo would beat me up for letting you get sad. Besides, I'm sure they're happy together, wherever they are. So, come on, let's start training OK? For their sake." He nodded and started to do some pushups alongside me. At a faster pace than me... Well this is doing wonders for my pride." Alright, let's do up to 50 for now and see how we get on."

  
"OK!" Surprisingly he shouted that out, which is nice to see. It didn't take long for us to get a little tried, but we pressed on anyway, "Unrelated question, but when we get out of here, please can I get a bunny rabbit?" Asking like how he would ask a parent for something.

  
I couldn't help but look at him in very much confusion, although it's not for the reason he would think. "Sure, but why did you ask me like a child would ask their parents for something, I mean, you didn't really have to ask, if you want to get a rabbit, I wouldn't mind. Besides I think having a rabbit would be nice and taking care of a rabbit sounds fun!" My body's starting to hurt a little, but I'll be fine. He seems happy though.

  
"YAY! Sorry for asking you like that, I just wanted to be polite, but thank you anyway!" Well that was a pleasant conversation. Eventually, we got up to fifty pushups, but I felt exhausted, as my arms gave out, how did I manage to do a 100 of these things earlier in the week. However, I kind of just want to spend more time with him, so I'll try and do some more exercise.

  
But something unexpected happened while I was talking. "Hey, do you wanna, keep on going." The biggest yawn I've ever heard in my life came out of my mouth, which was slightly embarrassing.

  
Chihiro had a look of pure pity on his face which did not help at all, but he seemed understanding. "No thank you, besides there's the chance that we might not get much sleep, although..." He seemed to trial off but he's not finishing his sentence, should I investigate further...

  
Yes! Welp, guess I'm going to do that then. "Hey, you feeling OK? Do you want to ask me anything? If so, I'll be fine to do anything you ask me to."

  
Then came a silence that last longer than I felt was necessary, but eventually, he stepped closer and looked into my eye, although in more of a shy way than a determined way, "Can... Can I sleep with you tonight, please?" His face started to become more panicky by the second, and I was in stunned silence. I mean, it's just so unexpected, but at the same time, is there anything wrong with it? I mean I don't think we'll take off our clothes or anything, and besides if there's a chance that we will die, I kind of what to have a moment like that...

  
"Of course! I'd love too!" I again maybe showed a little too much enthusiasm, although one question popped into my mind that I wanted the answer for. "But, if you don't mind me asking, how come?"

  
"I couldn't sleep after what had happened to Hifumi and Yasuhiro..." He became a lot more somber once again, "I've actually had trouble sleeping for the past few nights, it feels like every time I close my eyes, I'm just see Yasuhiro and Hifumi and the voting panel as well, and I just don't feel like I deserve to sleep for some reason, and with Mondo and Kiyotaka gone now, I know it's going to get even worse. At the same time, when I'm with you, I feel a lot happier and calmer, so I just hope that I'll be able to sleep better. So, thank you for agreeing to do that, even if it seemed a little weird of a request..." He seemed sad but thankful. I don't think he and I had the same train of thought when he asked that request, but I wouldn't turn him down anyway. Maybe I'm a little too much of a pushover, but helping others feels good.

  
"OK, do you want to put on our normal clothes and then head back to the rooms? Then we can decide whose room's we'll stay in." He nodded, and we took turns using the room to change our clothes.

Then we walked on down to the rooms with our bags on hand, and it was at this point where I realized that my legs were in pain. Which I had to hide as well as my tiredness. "Yours, or mine?" He noticeably took a second to think about it, but then came to a conclusion.

  
"Can we go in mine? I generally feel that we have better times in my room." Wait, why would he...

  
Oh. "Yeah, OK that sounds good. We both went into his room and honestly, I was so tired that I just wanted to go straight to bed. Thankfully Chi didn't take long to get onto his bed and let me in as well, and then I decided the best cause of action was to just sleep, so then if he needed anything, he could just let me know. He seems to be trying the same thing, so hopefully this works out for him.

  
Day 6/14 Finished!

  
...  
...  
...

  
"Ahh! Did... Did I die? No, I'm still here, but that dream felt so real, and it felt similar anyway, why was I in Kiyotaka's position? Did Mondo do that to me in my dream? Maybe, maybe I was wrong about getting better dreams. But at least I'm not up all night looking after Alter Ego or feeling my sins crawling on my back. He's safe right now, I know that for a fact. 'Koto looks so peaceful right now... I know it's a little selfish, but if I can just sneak my arm under him without waking him, and presto! Maybe I just need a hug or to hug someone I care a lot about, sorry if you don't like this 'Koto... Hopefully I can get to sleep soon, I wouldn't want anyone else to worry about me."  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is a week late... I was going to make this a shorter chapter, and then it ended up being a lot longer than expected. And I don't know why. I don't really have anything else to say, so hope you enjoyed I guess.


	11. Day 7: Pictures, Computers and Baseballs.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group finds a device that could help them all out and then Makoto is asked to hang out with Leon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SWEET MERCY IT'S FINALLY DONE. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

 

"It is now 7am. Get ready to get another beautiful day at Hope's Peak Academy!" Monokuma's voice woke me up as usual, however this time, I felt a little odd. Turning my head revealed that Chi was hugging me tightly, almost like a child holding a plush. I guess he must have had a nightmare or something, poor guy, still he looks extremely comfortable right now, I don't have the heart to move, maybe I can go back to sleep, it'll be fine. Besides I'm enjoying this a lot more than I should be right now.

  
*DING DONG*

  
That's the doorbell, right? Why would someone want to see Chi. Due to the movements of Chi, I could tell he had woken up. "Oh, good morning 'Koto. Sorry about hugging you..." There was a noticeable pause between the two sentences, but still, he doesn't seem that happy right now...

  
"Hey, don't worry about it, you had a nightmare, right? You only did what you needed to feel more comfortable. Besides you know I wouldn't get mad at you over something so minor, so cheer up and forget about it, OK?" There was a short period of silence which is not good.

  
He let go off me and sat up. "OK. Sorry to ask this, but can you hide in the bathroom until the person at our door has gone? Sorry, I'm just not comfortable with the fact that other people might take things the wrong way." I nodded and headed into his bathroom. In the bathroom, there was a sewing kit for some reason? "Oh, hello Hina, sorry for my appearance, I've only got out of bed a few minutes ago." He was pretty tried, as he was yawning his words out, but Hina wants to see Chi? I wonder why.

  
"Oh, that's fine, don't worry about it. No one can look good if they've only just gotten out of bed, I know that from years of personal experience. Anyway, are you OK? Is everything cool with you do you have any problem!?" Hina's voice began to get more panicked with every sentence.

  
"I'm fine Hina. Sorry I slept in, I was just tried I guess." Chi sounded pretty sad and regretful, we have got to fix that.

  
"Yeah, don't worry, I wish I could sleep in. I guess you'd be safe, I mean I don't think 'Koto would let you get hurt anyway. If there's any problems between you two, let me know, I'll make sure there won't be any! See ya!" Hina got a lot happier as she spoke and now, I'm even more terrified for my life than I've ever have been.

  
"Alright, you can come out now." Glad to see I'm finally allowed to come out of the bathroom. He took one look at me and started to panic. "H-Hey, are you OK?"

  
Did I do something wrong? I should try to stay calm otherwise it'll be a big ball of panicking teenagers which is never good. "I think so, why is there something wrong? Take a breath at least, OK?"

  
He obliged and took a few deep breaths. "OK, err, you've gone white and sweating quite a lot? Did Hina scare you?"

  
"Yes." The millisecond after he finished his question, I answered not caring for thinking apparently. There's no point in hiding the obvious anyway.

  
Thankfully that calmed him down as he started to giggle of all things. "Come on, Hina wouldn't hurt you and she'd have no reason to. You're a really nice person you know? Besides Hina likes you way too much to hurt you anyway. Heh, you're blushing again, glad to see I can give pep talks as well! Learned from the best I suppose." He's not stopping with the complements and soon and I'll turn into a tomato.

  
If there's one thing we're both good at it is cheering each other up. Still, I don't think there's much more reason to stay in his room. People could get worried or even get the wrong idea and we can talk outside his room, right? Well I should ask him if he wants me to at least. "Heh, you're getting good at improving moods. Hey, why don't we head on out, besides I need a shower after last night. See you tonight if I don't see you earlier?" His face turned into one of panic as he ran into his shower. Guess that's my que to leave. Although I really shouldn't forget my training bag.

  
I snuck out, watching for onlookers and rushed into my room and ran even quicker into the shower, dropping the training bag on the floor. I was quick in there and getting dressed so I'm good to go! I should explore the third floor today! I saw no one on the way, which was ominous to say the least. The nurse's office was now open, which could be helpful in case someone gets hurt, hopefully we won't need to do that anyway.

  
The first room I checked out on the third floor was the REC room, which was the same room that Celeste and Junko stayed in. In here there was a lot of magazines, a roulette wheel, a dart board and a table with cards on them. Seems like a room that people could just come in and chill out. Still, why is this in a school, Hope's Peak is a big place, but this just doesn't seem right. Then again, I don't think I've learned anything in this school, which shows that this isn't exactly a normal school. I don't think I could do anything in here without an extra person in here.

  
The next room across was an art room. Well this could be great! Maybe I could get a notepad or something, it'll be fun to doodle sometimes! There's a backroom but it's locked so I can't really do anything about that. Wait, there's a familiar looking book on the table. Picking it up, I saw something that was shocking to say the least. The words on the book had the words "Created by Komaru Naegi." Why is my sister’s book here? So, they did ransack my house, which means my family is in danger...

  
I picked up a notebook, pen and her book and walked out. This time I'm not letting some unknown party steal something that belongs to her. The question is why would it be shown now instead of earlier on, when we got the first motive, since that was about our families in danger and this is proof of that. I wonder what will happen to them after the time runs out. They'll be fine, no one's that cruel, right? Besides the police will have to find them for information on us anyway and so then they'll all be safe!

  
There's a science lab here as well, which makes a lot more sense than a REC room. There's a big machine with a giant ball on top of it, which I have no idea on what it could do. But otherwise there was research documents and stuff like that in the room, so there's was nothing out of the ordinary. But there was a back room that caught my eye.

  
Going into the room showed it wasn't big at all, the smallest room in the school so far. And there was a photograph on the floor, of Kiyotaka yelling at Hifumi and Yasuhiro slacking off, all set in a classroom like one I woke up in, but with actual daylight. They all look so happy, so relaxed, like nothing went wrong, a snippet from the life I wish they had. I know they aren't here anymore, but I miss them. Mondo and Kiyotaka died not even two days ago. Honestly, I could just look at this photo all day, I get a sense of hope by looking at it, sure it's our friends who deaths were brutal, but here they are just being happy. I want to give everyone else a feeling of just pure happiness, like nothing in the world can go wrong, and to do that, we've all got to get out of here!

  
"BWAHAHAHA! What are doing here, standing in a room for half an hour by yourself? Oh, oh, did you have a thought about Fujisaki naked and you had to, sort it out? BWAHAHAHAHA!" The familiar laugh and voice caused me to put my hands over my mouth thanks to his comment. I don't even know why I did so, I was just so shocked or insulted by his comment, I guess. This also caused me to drop the photo I was holding. "Oh, what's this, a nice little photo that is mine now, well at least I was right on the money with my prediction!"

  
He ran past my feet to snatch up the photo faster than I could react. "W-Wait, why would you need that photo and why do you keep making fun of me about that?" I turned around to see Monokuma was in the location he previously in when he first in.

  
"Well this is a photograph made by the Ultimate Photographer. In fact, I have an entire album full of these things, I gotta keep memories of my lovely students, after all I am your headmaster! But to answer your question, it's because I can't legally show this off everywhere now thanks to the fact that you two had sex. Jerks."  I honestly don't know how to respond to that, it sort of sounds like he cares just a tiny bit about us, but I know that's a lie. But a picture taken by the Ultimate Photographer, that sounds weird. Also, that last part was just plain mean and wrong.

  
"Wait, so is that picture real? It can't be right! Also, we wer-" Apparently he didn't take that well as his red eye started to glow again and he interrupted me.

  
"Oh, but it is real. Figure it out for yourself kid, there's clues everywhere, maybe even in your own pocket. Although I wouldn't share it with anyone, you can't trust anyone in this building, they all want you dead and they most likely won't believe you anyway." He gave me that ominous before leaving, taking the photo with him.

  
So, there's photos of us that we couldn't have taken but they are apparently real? He saw me take Komaru's book and didn't try to stop me and it's a clue now? I have so many questions right now. I should try to tell them though, the more people that know facts, the higher chance we have of escape!

  
*DING*

  
That came from my Monopad, but I've never heard it do that before! Nor felt it do that. Getting it out of my pocket, I saw the reason for the ping.

  
*Aoi Asahina: hey, koto. youve been in there 4 an hour now. r u ok? =(

  
That physically hurt to look at. I have got to make sure Hina never touches a phone again.

  
*DING*

  
The vibrations and noise combo repeated, causing a new message to appear on screen

  
*Chihiro Fujisaki: Yeah, you went in there a while ago. Did something happen to you 'Koto?

  
Huh, time is all kinds of messed up for me. I decided to calm their nerves. Wait, I've got it!

  
*Makoto Naegi: Nothing major, I was just reading a book. Sorry for making you all worried about me.

  
*DING*

  
*DING*

  
*Chihiro Fujisaki: Yeah, that sounds like something you'd do.

  
*Aoi Asahina: well at least your ok. what book were you reading? =/

  
All of a sudden, I was graced with knowledge of the greatest thing I could say in this situation.

  
Makoto Naegi: It was a book about Anti-Gravity, I couldn't put it down.

  
There was a noticeable silence due to my joke.

  
Aoi Asahina: :| ... their is a meating in the eating place rn

  
Well I'm assuming she means the cafeteria, well I better head on down there before anyone else starts worrying about me. Besides there's nothing else here for me now.

  
In the cafeteria Hina, Chi, Leon, Junko and Kyoko all sat a table, I decided to make my presence known before sitting down. "Hi everyone, did I miss anything?" Everyone turned to look at me as I sat next to Chi, to no one's surprise.

  
Junko was the first to speak up. "Nope, not really Makoto. We're just waiting for lunch right now. We got you something as well, just in case!" Oh, that's really nice of everyone!

  
"Thank you so much!" So of course, I had to thank everyone right away.

  
"Hmph, you should be apologizing for that awful joke and making us all worried about you." Hina's in a pretty bad mood right now. Was my joke really that bad?

  
"Well, I thought it was funny and he's here now, so it's alright now!" Chi spoke up defending me rather quickly.

  
I turned and smiled at him, "Thanks Chi, although I'm sorry for worrying you all, I just got lost in my own world, I guess. I just thought the joke would cheer you up..." although my smile didn't last too long. Hina looked at me with sad eyes,

  
"It's OK 'Koto. I just don't want to lose anyone else, y'know..." Unfortunately, my pun had the opposite effect that it was supposed to have so that's pretty bad. Luckily it didn't take long for Sayaka, Sakura and Celeste to come out with food. Although Celeste mainly made tea for us all which was still incredibly nice of her. Everyone gave their thanks for the meal and we all started eating. I personally had a chicken salad which was super good!

  
"Aoi, would you kindly answer a question I have?" Celeste started to speak up causing us all to look up. Hina looked very confused at this.

  
"Err, sure, but call me Hina, OK!" She regained her energy quickly enough though. Celeste looked a little annoyed, but just as quickly as Hina, regained her energy.

  
"Very well, "Hina" didn't you have extreme stomach pains in the meeting earlier on? Then why are you eating faster than all of us here?" That question caused us to look at Hina questioningly and she had a look of pure panic. But there was something else on my mind.

  
"Wait, we had a meeting earlier?"

  
Celeste turned her gaze towards me and sighed, "Yes, we did, anyway, can you answer-"

  
"Hey, weren't Makoto and Chihiro the only ones to not be here for the meeting. Apart from Toko and Byakuya anyway but they're jerks." Leon quickly interrupted her, which gave him a glare. I decided to stay quiet as I hate where this is going.

  
Sayaka however was feeling helpful. "Yes, that is correct. But out of all of us, the deaths yester-"

  
"Congrats on getting a girl in your bed Makoto!" Leon interrupted Sayaka which caused me to to start choking on my food and falling off my chair. It's hard to focus on anything else but thankfully Hina quickly got it out of my system.

  
"Hey! 'Koto wouldn't do that, besides I've never slept with anyone in my life, so you need to stop making assumptions!" Chihiro was quick to lie for me and himself. Although that fact wasn't true, he said it like it was one, maybe I should talk to him about that later...

  
"WILL YOU PIECESOFSHITS SHUT UP BEFORE I WHIP YOU AND DRAG YOU AROUND ACROSS THE GROUND AND MAKE YOU WISH FOR MONOKUMA'S PUNISHMENT!" Celeste practically screamed out causing me to almost start choking again and I could feel Chi grabbing my hand in fear as my hand stared to shiver. "My apologies. I was simply being pushed to my limits, although I am quite shocked that your reactions are so severe, after all, we've had two, almost three, dead bodies found by us and we've seen two executions way worse than anything that any person would mentally and physically go through normally. Anyway, Aoi, please may you answer my question." Celeste turned back into her normal self in a millisecond.

  
Hina simply had a look of pure terror on her face. "Well, y-you know when you think you have p-pains in your stomach, and you think it's because you've eaten too much and in fact you haven't eaten enough? That's w-what is happening right now, you know!" She was barely getting her words out, sweating faster than I could imagine. Eventually, she sighed and faced downwards. "Alright, just follow me or something, it's easier to show it than tell it. That way you might actually believe me." She walked off and we just looked at each other before following.

 

We ended up in the bathhouse and saw Hina just facing the lockers, and I felt my hand getting squeezed even tighter. I crouched slightly and turned towards him, and started to talk, but quietly. "Hey, are you OK? Listen, if you're uncomfortable, you can always leave. No one's gonna judge you, and I wouldn't let them anyway."  He let go of my hand after I said this, so I guess I better remember as much as possible for training tonight.

  
His face suddenly looked downwards at the floor and quietly he started apologizing again, "I'm sorry, I'm so, so, sorry..." He walked over to the lockers and sighed, before opening it, showing off a laptop in there. "Before you ask, yes, this is the one from the library. I should explain this, but I think it'd be easier for them to tell you." Them!? Is it a connection to the outside world? No, you'd need an internet connection for that, and I doubt that Monokuma would overlook that.

  
He then pressed a button on the computer screen, making his face appear on the computer screen, which deeply confused everyone until Chi typed on the keyboard, causing the computer to introduce itself. "Well, if it's OK with you Master. My name is Alter Ego, and I'm an AI made by Chihiro Fujisaki to help you all, I am pleased to meet you!" Wait, Chi made an AI?

  
"So, I'm guessing the goal of Alter Ego is to datamine the computer and find information about the school and the person or people responsible for trapping us in here?" Kyoko's very good at deducing things quickly, maybe that has something to do with her ultimate talent. But still, he only had that laptop 3 days, at most! Plus, he spent last night with me, so that means that he managed to make it that quickly!? "Very well, then do you have anymore information about anything?" I'm guessing she got a silent response of confirmation from him then.

  
"I'm sorry, but I only just got the program working just before nighttime. In fact, I don't know what new information has been discovered yet. I'll ask them to tell what they know." He said rather disappointedly, although now I feel kind of bad since he would had known if I had woken him up instead of letting him sleep.

  
"Right now, I haven't gotten much information from this laptop, but I have noticed that the headmaster was the creator of some of these files. I'll have the laptop fully datamined in 4 days at most, so I hope this will be of use to you!" Alter Ego is the happiest being here right now which is saying something...

  
"No that's wrong!" Kyoko had a surprisingly emotional outburst towards Alter Ego's response. "There's another explanation for this, I'm sure of it. However, Chihiro can you quickly let Alter Ego know to continue its work and we shouldn't talk about it outside of this room. This is our best weapon against Monokuma, we can't put it in unneeded danger." She calmed down quickly enough, and I don't think anyone would have objections to her plan, so Chi simply typed in the instructions and put Alter Ego in the locker. Still an AI? Just another example of how I'm left in the dust I suppose. A tap on the shoulder by Kyoko was enough to make me follow her outside, since everyone else had left the room.

  
"So, so, so, anyone want to share the reason why you decided it was a good idea for everyone to go inside a bathhouse? You all better not be having fun in there, if ya know what I mean." Monokuma popped out of nowhere, as he tends to do so.

  
Sighing, I spoke without thinking, "I don't exactly know how that could be considered fun at all. Just another area where everyone outshines me, I guess." Which caused everyone to look at me. It took a second for my brain to catch up which then caused my hands to go over my mouth, again.

  
"BWAHAHAHA! WOW, did you discover you had the smallest shoe size or something? I guess someone so average doesn't have any experience in that area! But seriously, what the hell were you all doing in there." I have no idea what he's on about so I'm gonna stay silent.

  
"Well, if you must know, Hina and Leon did a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide if the boys or girls should be getting in the bath first, and Hina won, so now us girls are getting in the bath, right?" Celeste was surprisingly quick to cover up our tracks, which is nice of her.

  
Hina however, had trouble catching up. Maybe it's because Celeste called her Hina? "O-Oh yeah! Alright then guys, I mean gals, let's hit the bathhouse... yay!" She doesn't sound very enthusiastic, maybe it's because it's not a pool? All the girls began to walk in, when she turned around "Chi are you, wait where did she go?" Everyone looked around, as he disappeared. Guess everything was just getting too awkward for him. "Hey, 'Koto, do you know where she might have gone?"

  
I've got to think of something, and fast! "I don't think she'd feel comfortable with being in the bathhouse with you guys. I haven't spoken to her about it yet, but I think she might be Bisexual, so the feeling inside the bathhouse would be really awkward there for her..." That thankfully convinced everyone as they all walked off into the bathhouse, leaving me with Monokuma and Leon. Guess I'll just chill out for a while? Or maybe wait for everyone else to come out of the bathhouse?

  
" Gentlemen?" Monokuma spoke up surprisingly, in a faux French accent. "I have an idea!"

  
I do not like where this is going. Leon seemed to agree, "How do we know it's not a trap?"

  
"I mean, you all are pretty bad at finding them, but I assure you, this is not a trick. Why don't you guys, take a peek at the girls in the bathhouse." Now he's really desperate to find out what we were doing, but that's not gonna work on me! Besides I wouldn't want Komaru's book getting wet, Monokuma's unpleasant to be around and I'm not interested anyway. As I walked away, I also decided to tune him out, so I wouldn't know if he cared.

  
My room is the same, as it usually is. I swapped the locations of my Funplane and her book, placed the de-facto diary on the table and headed off! Let's just relax in the cafeteria for now. Out of sheer habit, I sat where I'd normally sit with Chi, it's still a nice place to sit, so I'm not complaining. I'll make some pancakes first, then I'll play a game.

  
Making pancakes was quick enough and all of the extras were in the fridge so now I've got a nice meal to eat! Switching from my meal to my game after every time I lose a life ended up making my pancake disappear within 5 minutes. Well it was good at least.

  
"So then, care to explain what happened?" Kyoko was surprisingly stern; did I do something wrong?

  
"I ate some pancakes while trying to beat this really hard game. Why, did you want some?" I noticed that all the girls, plus Leon and Monokuma came into the room.

  
"No, Makoto. No, I do not. My question was to Leon and Monokuma, although if you know anything that would be helpful” That’s when I saw the bear and Leon looking kind of awkward. So, Leon did take up Monokuma's offer. I wonder if they're gonna speak up. The girls were glaring at them, so maybe I should try to help.

  
"Well, Monokuma offered to me and Leon to look at you guys while in the bathhouse. I just left to my room to grab my Funplane, didn't pay them any attention."

  
"Pretty sure that's because you'd rather see boys naked." Monokuma predictably decided to make fun of me again. Honestly, I'm not sure if he's just being homophobic or just making fun of me because I get uncomfortable talking about naked people. Or maybe it's my relationship with Chi. Can you consider it a relationship? Of course, I was blushing.

  
"But didn't he sleep with Chihiro." Leon called out, honestly though, I'm not sure if he's doing this on purpose or not. But still, what is this, everyone picks on Makoto day? I used my hood to cover my screamed into it.

  
"And now you know how we felt when we were watched in the bathhouse." Junko replied, but I'm innocent here!

  
"Anyway, so what I'm taking from this is that Monokuma used Leon's desire for seeing naked girls without their consent, in order to find out our secret, and he took the bait, hook, line and snicker. Now I feel even more like an idiot, thanks for that. Also, Makoto, I know he's annoying, but please keep an eye on him for a little while, because if I got my hands on him, I think he'd end up with more than just a broken wrist." Sayaka sounded like she had pure unrelenting rage in her voice. Guess I shouldn't question her.

  
"Oh shit! I forgot about your little secret. Well I don't wanna be destroyed so I'm outta here!" He ran off faster than I've ever seen him do before. Guess he really wanted to see the girls naked. But aren't there security cameras everywhere, can't he just watch us from them or is that not how they work. And now I want to unthink that thought.

  
Soon all of the other girls left, with varying expressions on their faces and I was left alone with Leon. The situation that he had been in honestly made it a little too awkward to start a conversation with him, so I decided to play on my Funplane for a while. I think he just decided to watch. I wonder if we got closer?

  
"Hey, I've kind of got a question. How do you get a girl to like you?" Leon spoke up for the first time in a while. Guessing he's asking me either because of Chi or he's too embarrassed to talk to the girls after what happened. I put my Funplane down and began to talk.

  
"Well, I'm absolutely not the best person to ask about this. I just decided to help someone that needed help, and then they kind of grew more attached to me over time, so I'd say be yourself maybe? Honestly, I really don't know. But why do you want to know anyway?" Honestly, I'm just trying to get the conversion to go anywhere but here.

  
"Well, to be honest, there's a lot of attractive people in the world, hell even in this very school. I'm just worried that I'll die alone. Besides, I'm also a teenager, Makoto if you haven't been around people with boyfriends and girlfriends in middle school, you're incredibly sheltered." Guess that's true. I've noticed quite a few couples around school, a whole lot of gossip was overheard. Everyone was always wondering if Sayaka was going to get a boyfriend. Honestly, I'm glad that I decided to convince the school to keep my details private, having that amount of popularity seems more like a hazard than anything else. But yeah, I suppose he's right about both things.

  
Maybe I should try and give him some advice on where to head next. "Well, do you have a type of person you're looking to date?"

  
"Well, she's a hairdresser first of all, designed my current hairdo. Hot and she likes music a lot. In fact, she's one of the main inspirations for me wanting to become a musician. She's also pretty nice, at least from the few conversations I've had. Hey, since you asked me, why don't I ask you, what's your type of person Makoto. I mean, I know Bisexuals can feel attraction to either male or female, so I'm wondering, do you have a type?" Wait, so that's the main reason he wants to be a musician!? But still, the conversation keeps coming back to me.

  
Better not be rude I suppose, what is my type? "A type of person I'm more attracted too? Well, apart from taking the easy choice and saying Chi's my type, I guess I've always liked strong guys, I don't know why to be honest, just always liked them. But still, you want to be a musician because you wanna impress a girl?" I certainly couldn't hide my surprised tone at the end there.

  
"Well, yeah. I mean I know it's really shallow and not a good reason, but to be honest, I want to do anything other than baseball, I don't want to have to shave my head or carry a bat ever again. But still, also you like strong guys? So that's why you just went to hang out with Mondo in the training room, but despite that you went with the weakest girl?" Thankfully Leon was surprisingly calm when explaining his detest for baseball.

  
"Yeah, I suppose it is kind of weird that I went for the polar opposite of my type, but that's fine, Chi's amazing anyway. Also, I never thought the Mondo thing, but now looking back, it does make sense. But for your problem, I feel that the best option is to just talk to her, you're a nice guy. Get to know her and see if she likes you and help each other out when it's needed, and I know this is quite hypocritical of me but try to take things slow." I was chuckling quite a lot, luckily, he didn't seem to mind.

  
"Yeah, that sounds about right. True love and all that jazz, still I suppose I'll have all the time in the world if we somehow manage to get out of here." Glad he's being somewhat optimistic about this. Although I will admit I have no idea about romance.

  
"Will everyone please head to the gym right away for a special announcement!" Monokuma's voice rang throughout the room, and I assume the school which filled me with a lot of dread. Leon had already left, guess he's worried about disobeying Monokuma's rule. Seeing as how Mondo almost got blown up, I can't blame anyone for doing so.

  
Unsurprisingly at this point, I was the last to arrive. I noticed that Chi was still upset over before. Or maybe he's upset that another motive, which makes another reminder of the friends we've lost. Monokuma popped up again. "Why hello my little students! You've all been quite annoying recently and there's been less murder and despair than I'd like, but however you're all trying your best, so I'm gonna give you all a reward!" A reward? This has got to be a trick.

  
Suddenly money fell from the sky, and I mean a lot of money it plied so much that it was about as tall as of two and a half Monokumas and wider than all of us standing in a line, most likely. "TA-DA! 10 Million Buckaroos! All of this money could be yours, as long as you graduate! So, what are you waiting for!" He sounded pretty proud of himself.

  
But still really? Attacking us emotionally to try and make us break makes sense but this, no one would kill over this! "Only 10 Million? That's nowhere near enough." That voice came from Byakuya of all people. If even he's on board then that's great, although the only part has me a little worried, but I'll take what I can get.

  
Kyoko even had a smile towards all of this, "It pleases me to know that none of us will put a price on life."

  
Monokuma didn't have the most expected reaction though. "Well, if that's what you all think, then I hope you're ready. Because somebody once told me, "You can't judge others on your own values, that's just asking to be murdered." You can't trust anyone here, survive a little longer, and the world's true colours will be shown to you, and they'll make you wish that you were executed." Monokuma's shiny red eye sparkled once again before jumping down from whence he came.

  
"W-What the hell does that mean!?" Toko's reaction was pretty accurate to what I was thinking, although panic leads to distrust, which leads to murder after a while.

  
"Hey, don't worry about it. He's just trying to scare us into murdering each other. All we've gotta do is make sure we stay calm and make sure we don't do anything too reckless." Not sure if my message worked or not, but hey, I can hope.

  
"It is now 10pm and that means it's officially nighttime. Some areas will be closing soon so please leave them as soon as possible!" Well, guess it is time to go and train. Wait, I left my Funplane in the Cafeteria!

  
Thankfully since I ran, it wasn't closed so I picked up my Funplane and headed off. Placing it in my room, I got my training bag and headed on upstairs to the changing room, where I was still the first one. I quickly got changed and now I'm wondering what I should do. Maybe I should ask Chi what he wants to do. Yeah, he's been pretty sad today, so hopefully that'll cheer him up. I left the book I got from the library yesterday, so that should be helpful information and a distraction at least.

  
The door creaked open and I could tell that was Chi peeking before entering the room. He soon came into the room, although with him facing the ground, I couldn't tell how he was feeling. "Hey, Chi. Glad to see that you're back again, although I've gotta ask, are you OK? I've seen you pretty bummed out all day. Listen, this is a no judgement zone, OK?"

  
He was still looking down at his feet. "I'm sorry for keeping everything from everyone." He's still going on about that, he's too good for this Earth.

  
I went over to hug him, as I think that should work. Wrapping my arms around him, there was a noticeable silence between the two of us. "Listen, you don't need to apologize for anything, because you've done nothing wrong. No one's going to be upset at you and if they are, they'll have to take it up with me. If you want to talk about it or not, it's fine, I'll be here for you no matter what." That should work, he's surprisingly easy to cheer up, which is good.

  
Soon he gave me a hug back, which felt nice. Hugs are nice. This went on for a while, but that's OK, until he unwrapped and started talking once again. "T-Thank you. Hey, if you don't mind, I'd like to get changed and start training now." I nodded and left the room. I ended up humming a silly song I heard when I was younger until the door opened allowing me back into the room. He looked at me for a second before asking, "What sort of training should we do today?" 

  
Well I did promise to myself I'd let him choose, so let's do that, "Hey, why don't you decide what you want to do today. This training is about you after all and I picked yesterday, so I feel it's only fair that you get your turn."

  
He nodded and looked around, until he focused on the dumbbells. "People use these in movies, so that means they should work well!" I can see the logic in that. He picked up the smallest one and got to work. Guess I could do some pushups in the meantime. He noticeably turned to look at me and started to smile, "It's nice to see you happy again. Happiest since this morning in fact." Glad we both like seeing each other in a good mood.

  
After grunting a little bit from my pushups, I decided to talk again. "Well, apart from seeing you and your cute smile again, I'm just happy that Monokuma's not gonna get his way!" He noticeably blushed at my compliment while keeping his smile.

  
"How is Monokuma not getting his way?" He has a look of pure confusion on his face, guess I should clear that up as soon as possible.

  
"Well because no one's gonna kill over that motive. Who even needs 10 Million of whatever currency he's using? Hell, we don't know if the money's real or not! So, no one's going to get hurt!" I'm still pretty adamant over this, but we're gonna be OK!

  
This also brought back a smile to Chi's face. "Yeah, you're right! We're all gonna be OK! Heh, to be honest, I have way more money than I know what to do with, plus everyone's likely a big name here, so they most likely get prize money or something like that! O-oh apart from you I guess, sorry." Sadly, his smile went down when he started to apologize once again.

  
I've gotta turn that frown upside down! "Hey, listen, it's fine. I live in a stable income with a loving family Chi, that's all I could ever ask for. Still how did you get all that money, knowing you, you most likely programmed something amazing." Surprisingly the response I got was him putting his finger on his chin and making a 'hmm' sound.

  
He stopped exercising for a second to turn directly to me and looking in my eye, while moving closer to me. "Listen, I'm not technically allowed to say this to other people, but I want to be more honest with everyone and that includes you. This secret isn't one that I exactly want others to eventually learn, unlike the big one, so can you keep this a secret, please?"

  
To be honest this is kind of awkward. With him looking into my eye and being so close to me on the ground, I can't say no to him, but trying to talk at all just feels like I'm gonna mess up somehow. "Chi, listen, I've kept this secret and you called this the big one, which means it should be even easier for me to keep this one, right?" I tried to hide my awkward feeling with chuckling, although he's got a surprisingly good poker face.

  
Then he gave me a little kiss and pulled back, while also sitting up. "T-Thank you. To be honest, talking with you about my problems and secrets always feels great. I want to get this comfortable with everyone, you know, being able to talk to them without a problem. It's just hard to find a starting ground sometimes. Also, you didn't need to sweat so much silly, I'm not gonna hurt you!" He transitioned into giggling after talking so contently. Still, he's not comfortable with conversations, that seems weird.

  
"Hey, before you start, can I ask, how come if you're so uncomfortable with conversations, then why did you talk to me so much?"

  
He got a little panicked over this, but nothing major I don't think. "O-Oh yeah. That's because you came up to me and started to talk. I can hold a conversion fine if someone else wants to talk, but for the life of me, I struggle to start one up unless I'm comfortable with someone, like you." He sounded pretty disappointed when he said that, but soon managed to pick up his spirits. "Anyway, my dad is a well-known programmer in the field, in some ways he's even better than I am, but I had strengths where he didn't, as I could make a lot of things menu related. That includes virtual assistants, which if you don't know what those are, basically you can use your device's microphone or a keyboard to ask the computer to do something. That is an oversimplification I'll admit, but it's something I'm good at. Well, as it turns out, from a young age, I was known for my abilities at seemingly being able to do a lot of things that took expertly trained programmers a while to do. To be honest, I always feel pretty bad for them, as they worked hard and yet I've got a lot their skills and maybe even more." To be honest, I was just sat next to him, nodding along. I knew what he was saying but there wasn't anywhere I felt to comment on. But still, Ultimate talents are weird. They don't really have any rhyme or reason, they just go to people and it's up to them to decide what to do with it. Maybe everyone has their own talent, but they just don't discover it?

  
But still I don't want him to feel sad about this. "Hey, it's not your fault that you were gifted with the talents, right? Then there's no need to feel bad. Besides, if you really want to help out the other programmers, you could make a company and hire them, right? Then you could create everything you want!"

  
His smile lit up once more and he nodded, "Yeah! I could do that, thanks for the advice!" He became a lot calmer after that, as he decided to keep on going. "Anyway, so a really big company came to me and asked me to help work on some code they had. This was about 2 years ago, yeah, I know I've been doing this for a while. I've almost done sorting out the code, it's mainly a mix of cleanup and adding the finishing touches, but what I'm making is a program that can grow and develop like a human depending on the interactions it has between its owner. It's officially called the Alter Ego project and I was contracted to help make it. That's how I got a lot of money anyway!" He sounds pretty proud of himself, I mean, I would be if I had the opportunity to make something big, but it's still interesting that Alter Ego's in the school now.

  
Guess I should find out. It could be a clue. "Hey, Chi. Can I say two things?" He nodded in response so that means I can continue. "Alright. First of all, you made AI. A self-improving AI, no amount of praise could honestly show off how amazing of a feat that is. Secondly, how in the heck did you-? Nevermind." I stopped myself before I gave too much away, since I'm not exactly sure if I can talk about that. With the cameras around, Monokuma could find us out and I don't know what he'd do to us after that.

  
Chi looks a little confused right now, but hopefully I can ask him later. His face turned into one of thinking for a couple of seconds, before he started to speak again. "When it comes to programming, I generally have good memory of the code so it's easy to write it down again on another machine or to edit it myself, to fix issues with other people's work, usually. So even if I didn't have an USB, it wouldn't be hard for me to transfer one program from one PC or Network to another. That's likely another reason why I'm called Ultimate, although it does take quite a bit of time to do so. Anyway, do you have the time?"  After sharing that admittedly pretty impressive fact, he started to yawn a bit.

  
I went over to my hoodie in order to check the Monopad, after booting up, I checked the time. "About midnight. Wanna call it quits for now?" Judging by the little nod, we both decided to grab our clothes and put them in our respective bags. Soon we were leaving the training room and headed on down to our rooms.

  
He poked me and pointed towards the bathhouse. Guess he wants to talk about our Alter Ego for some reason. He looked in the direction of it and sighed. "Thank goodness no one's made off with him. Anyway, I think I know what you wanted to ask me about. So basically, I've got good memory of the code for Alter Ego, so I managed to put all that code into the laptop. Still I remembered bits about his code that I didn't know before, so that made it easier to complete him!" He figured me out at least, so there wasn't anything awkward happening.

  
Although now I'm a little worried for his health, "Wait have you had any sleep, or talked to someone that isn't me since the first trial ended, not counting the night that you slept with me." Silence. I knew it, "Hey, Chi. Can you do me a favor and just relax a bit. I know you may not be comfortable with anyone else, but they want to see you, so can you make that promise for me?" I tried to not sound disappointed in him, because while I'm not, I'm just very concerned.

  
More silence. That's not good. "OK, I'll try talking to someone tomorrow. I mainly hanged out with Mondo and Kiyotaka before what happened, so I'll try again." He's pretty quiet, but I can tell he means it all. A smile instantly came to my face.

  
"That's all I ask Chi. Let's head off to bed now, you need it." I took him to his room before heading to my own, just got to make sure he takes my advice. "Listen, if you want to sleep in, I'll let everyone know alright."

  
He's yawning a lot more than before, guess his body wants him to go to sleep as well. "Alright then. Good night, 'Koto."

  
"Good night Chi." He then let the door close and that's my que to go to bed. When I got into my room, I threw my bag on the floor and landed face first on my bed and started to go to sleep.

  
Day 7/14 Finished!

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter had 3 resets due to glitches/save corruptions and a lot of extra rewritten paragraphs that took a lot out of me, but it's done. It's finally done. I was also originally planning an Celeste Free Time event, but to be honest, I just wanted to get this chapter done. Still this is the third time I've refenced a character from DR2, so that's been fun. Also critism is wanted as per usual, and hopefully the next chapter doesn't take as long. See ya!


	12. Day 8: Stoic Folks and lots of working out.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is another day at Hope's Peak where nothing is happening but some FTEs
> 
> *Also don't mind the fact I mispelt Folks as Flocks for months. Why do people read this thing again?*

"It is now 7am. Get ready to get another beautiful day at Hope's Peak Academy!" Monokuma's loud voice woke me up once again and while I do feel pretty drowsy, it's probably nothing compared to how Chi's feeling. Getting ready for the day ahead was nice and quick. I went to the cafeteria to find pretty much everyone who would normally go there is there sans Chi, so that's nice to see.  
"Good morning 'Koto! You seem happy this morning!" Hina pretty much cheered with joy at seeing me.

"Heh, guess I could say the same about you Hina!" I smiled back at her which caused everyone to smile just a little bit more than they were previously.

"Heh, well I'm spending time with people I care about and eating snacks, or breakfast technically, what's not to love!" She's almost singing her words out.

"Yeah, life's going pretty great right now! I mean, everyone's doing what makes them happy and there's good food nearby so we can eat as much as we want." Me and Hina are just a big ball of happiness right now and honestly, it's just so nice to feel like this again!

"Plus, there's nothing to be worried about, we're all gonna be OK!" Hina backed up my point of happiness even more.

"Then I get the feeling that you two will be next." The dark voice and words came from Celeste who was calmly sipping her tea and looking at us both, although the look she gave me was pretty menacing to say the least.

Hina was quick to get aggressive, guess she didn't like the mood spoiled. "Next, what do you mean next? Why do you have to be so ominous when you talk Celeste, it's kind of creeping me out." She was pretty much yelling already, which isn't a good sign as I doubt, she'll be able to hold this conversation for long.

Celeste took another sip of her tea. "Don't you remember the past two times people have been denying the truth. If you need a reminder, they were, Yasuhiro and Hifumi, and the Super Idiot Bros, also known as Mondo and Kiyotaka. What do they have in common, the both killed each other? Now the question is, who will be considered the victim and the murderer."

"Celeste! No one's going to kill each other over money! We're all better than that! Monokuma hit us hard with our personal problems last time, and it's not going to happen again, so there's no need for you to even think about that!" Hina does make a good point, no one here would think that human life has a price, you'd have to be as heartless as Monokuma to think that.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Monokuma does have a point. He said, 'you can't judge others on your own values, that's just asking to be murdered' and how do you know Makoto's being honest with you or anyone else? After all, we are in a killing game, maybe he's just leading everyone into a false sense of security, or at least Chihiro." What is Celeste doing? Is she trying to get us to not trust each other? I've got to calm down the situation at least. Still, I'm glad Chi's sleeping in, he'd be pretty upset to hear all that.

I have to defend myself at least, although I can't let it get to me. "Celeste, what are you doing? It's impolite to make assumptions for one thing, secondly what evidence is there that I'd even do that?" Thankfully I managed to remain calm when talking, but Celeste still gave me a menacing look.

"It is true that I am being impolite, and I do apologies for that, as well as having no evidence yet, however I am simply being cautious. I am simply trying to not let my friends do anything reckless. Do you understand?" Celeste is surprisingly creepy at some points, even when she wants to sound like a friend, she can't always manage it, but now I'm not sure what to think.

In the corner of my eye, I witness Hina clenching her fists in anger. "Not letting us get reckless? What part of making us all turn each other is not reckless?" She is shouting at this point, but there's nothing I can do.

"Would you rather you leave your back opened to be stabbed, or would you rather protect it, with the sacrifice of not having as many friends. In a timing killing game, survival is important, but someone will eventually snap and realize that they don't care about anyone else. That is enough of a motive at this point, it feels like Monokuma's just taunting us and trying give add a cheery on top of the cake of freedom at this point." Celeste was cold as ice while she was talking, and fittingly, it sent shivers up my spine. I was just reminded of the fact that a week had already passed here at the school and we'd die in less than 7 days, including today.

"WHY YOU, I-I-I..." She shouted an attempt to argue back before running off, almost looking like she was crying. Sakura was about to help her, but Sayaka simply placed her hand on the taller girl's below and shook her head. Honestly the mood has been kind of ruined now. I think I'll just go back to bed now and wake up in about an hour.

"Every party needs a pooper, that's why they invited you, party pooper, party pooper." Leon with a monotone like voice started to sing a song, causing me to start giggling. I don't even know why, maybe it's the monotone voice, or the timing of it, but I can't help my giggles.

"Wow Leon, maybe you should become the Ultimate Comedian instead, because that song and singing was hilarious." Thankfully my giggles weren't so loud that Sayaka's statement didn't get heard, although now I can't tell if she's being genuine or if she's being sarcastic. But at least we improved the mood overall. So, we ate our breakfast without anything else going wrong and went back to our rooms.

Welp, I guess I should explore the school and see if anyone wants to hang out for a little while. Before I managed to make it to the second floor, I heard a loud noise in the gym. So curious as I was, I ended up going in there to find Sakura who's just exercising, very loudly. Luckily, she noticed me opening the door, so she was looking at me and not moving that much, although still exercising. "Hello Makoto. Would you like to exercise with me today? I would ask Hina, but after what happened, I think she needs and wants sometime alone." Yeah, I think some workout would be nice, and if I'm stronger or know more about exercising, then I bet Chi would be happy.

"Yeah, I'd love to do some exercise!" Sakura nodded and taught me some new tricks about exercising, which in the end made me feel tried but in a good way, then we both sat down on the side of the room. To be honest, I was breathing really loudly, and to be honest I don't like listening to that to be honest so maybe I should be to talk. "So, how did you and Hina become such good friends in a short amount of time? I mean, when I went to meet with Hina to do some exercises with her, she mentioned how she was annoyed that you couldn't do it and that was only 2 days after we arrived." She didn't turn my direction, but I knew she heard me at least.

There was a short silence, but she soon began to speak, "To be honest with you, I am unsure. A little while after you got knocked out, she came to me and said if she wanted to exercise, she was energetic while asking, so refusing her was impossible. Eventually we started talking and relating to one another and though those talks we grew closer. She told me about her friends and family, hopes and dreams and what she wants to do when she escapes from this school and I did the same. Something kind of similar to what is happening now I suppose." Heh, guess that is kind of close to what's happening right now.

To prevent another silence, I have to ask another question. "Hey, do you have any hopes or dreams for when you get out? I know you want to become the strongest to prove that a woman can do it, but do you have anything outside of training. Do have any hobbies or people you wanna take care of?" The air in the room noticeably changed a bit but went back to normal soon enough.

Once it did go back to normal, she began to speak once again. "To be honest, I do not have any other plans. If I slack off in my training, then someone else will take my place, that is simply how it works. However, if you all would like to keep in touch, that is fine with me." Sakura doesn't like to speak much does she. She's straight to the point, which is nice, but at the same time, it does make things a little weird. "If you want my advice, I'd advise you go to the Sauna to help relax. I wish I could spend more time talking, but unfortunately I have something to do." She got up and left, which honestly feels kind of underwhelming. I usually spend a lot more time with other people, so seeing Sakura just leave quickly feels weird. But I should at least do as she says, she was kind enough to give me advice for that anyway.

I went into the sauna and got undressed, and relaxed. The warm heat is actually making me feel kind of sleepy, but I think I should be fine for now. Besides I don't want to break Monokuma's rule. Kiyotaka and Mondo became friends in here didn't they, well guess that means it doesn't just make warm bodies, it makes warm hearts too. I just hope that they're happy, they deserve it after being put though this torture. To be honest though, when we leave, how are we supposed to tell everyone's families about what happened? They'll understand, right? Still, there's no cameras, here right? Then I suppose a little nap won't be a problem...

"Wake up." The sound of someone speaking jolted me awake, although I don't know who it could be. Byakuya wouldn't want to be in here, and the other two guys wouldn't be so stern. "We need to talk."

The voice came from behind me, showing that it was "KYOKO!? Why are you in here? Couldn't you just knock or something, I'm easy to wake up!" She didn't respond and simply left the room. Guess I'm getting out now. I decided to quickly get redressed and headed on out, to see that she was as calm as ever. I don't want to make her made, so I should just forget about what just happened. "So, how can I help you?" Surprisingly she looked a little shocked, but soon enough went back to her usual stoic self.

"I need you to keep an eye on Chihiro. Make sure he doesn't touch Alter Ego until he is done with his work, right now, this is our best chance of getting out of here, and I don't want Chihiro to do anything else in secrecy." She was polite, and yet stern at the same time. But still, her use of pronouns scares me.

"Don't you mean her work?" I'm not sure how convincing I was pretending that I caught her mistake and nothing more, but according to the look on her face, I'm not a good actor.

She simply looked me in the eye and said, "We both know the truth about Chihiro's gender, although I assume you know more than me. Anyway, let him know about Alter Ego." She's much better at hiding her emotions than I am, but then she walked away.

There's something that's not wanting her to leave inside my mind, but I don't know what to say. Just say the first thing that comes to mind. "Wait Kyoko!" She turned around to face me. Now I've got to say something so then things aren't awkward. I took a deep breath and began to talk. "Listen, Chihiro's has his own reasons for hiding his gender, and I don't want his secret to get out without his consent, he was openly crying when he told me, so having everyone else know would be awful, so can you just keep it to yourself for now, please?" She simply looked at me and nodded, which caused me to breathe a sigh of relief. "Thanks a lot. Hey, do you want to hang out, it'd be less suspicious or weird than if we went our separate ways right, and you could ward off Monokuma easily, so that'd be great!" She looks a little surprised at my offer, but as soon as she got surprised, she calmed down.

"Alright, I suppose I don't see any harm in that." She doesn't sound too excited, but I'll take this as a victory. We went into the cafeteria and both got some drinks before sitting down at a table.  
Then there was silence. Well this isn't the best sign, but I should start some conversation, "Hey, so what do you like doing Kyoko. In your free time I mean." She began to face my direction again.

"Nothing important, I do read reports of crimes from time to time, but that's pretty much all it is. How about you?" She calmly explained and then asked me.

But now I'm worrying if I said something weird or maybe she doesn't want to talk, but maybe if I talk about myself it'll inspire her to open up a little more. "Alright then. In my free time, I spend a lot of it with family, just hanging out like talking or getting food. I don't get out that much though, my luck would likely most likely make something bad happen, so I usually just stick around and play games. If I'm lucky, my luck wouldn't affect the gameplay, which is quite the condition now that I think about it." I began to chuckle a bit before continuing. But still I kind of want to talk about her. Maybe I should ask her about something else so then she can talk about herself instead of me talking about myself. "Heh, anyway that's pretty much what I do whenever I'm free. Anyway, do you have anyone that you like to hang out with?" I know that she most likely doesn't have anyone since she's usually pretty quiet, but maybe I'll learn something else about her.

"Nope." She was quick and certain in her answer. I guess I should had seen that one coming, however she began to talk again. "Since you asked me a question about my relationships, I feel it's only fair that I do the same. I know that you hung out with almost everyone, so I don't need to ask who you hang out with, so my question is what do you see in Chihiro?" She was as calm as any other time as asked a question, but this is incredibly personal! Guess I had this one coming, didn't I?

I decided the best course of action was to just get it over with, so then I can try and ask her questions. "Alright. She's kindhearted, sweet and is just pleasant to be around. Plus, I just enjoy seeing her happy, and she's surprisingly easy to please. Also, even if it doesn't feel like it, we're still in a killing game, which is apparently on a time limit, so just making her happy is just something I want to do. I guess that's why I hang out with everyone, because I want to get to know them better, and to just get their mind off the game." Kyoko simply nodded at my response, almost like she was taking mental notes, but now's a good time to think up another question. It'd have to be something where it's not difficult for me to answer. Also, it looks like she's getting a little bit impatient. "Hey, do you remember anything about your talent, or do you have any ideas?"

"No." That answer came out even faster than I expected. "Why, is it because you have some ideas?" She noticeably looked straight at me when asking that question. Maybe she wants some ideas more than she's letting on?

"Alright, I have a few ideas. First, you're really good at seeing though people, like in the class trials, second you can investigate crime scenes really well and the last thing is that you seem to want to find the truth. That would make you the Ultimate Prosecutor! Those guys have to find out the correct criminal right, so your talents would be helpful in there." She noticeably had a small smirk on her face, although it was hard to see thanks to her hand. Although it went away pretty quickly. She returned to her neutral position and before anyone else could speak a familiar sound played.

"It is now 10pm and that means it's officially nighttime. Some areas will be closing soon so please leave them as soon as possible!" It's strange how used to this I've gotten, but I suppose I can't do anything about it right now. I got my training bag and decided to walk up, but as I was checking my bag to see everything was there, I bumped into Hina, as in we both fell to the floor.

"Oh, Hina! Didn't expect to see you or anyone else up this late!" She was lightly rubbing her head, although she quickly stopped, most likely after realizing it really didn't hurt.

She thankfully didn't seem upset over the fact that that we bumped into each other though. "Could say the same to you! I just finished up a lot of swimming, wanted to take my mind off what happened this morning, in fact, Chi decided that she wanted to swim with me, so that was fun!”? Yeah, looking at Hina, she definitely looks pretty wet. Still, I wouldn't expect Chi to do that. He's really serious about becoming strong.

"Wait, I haven't seen the either of you all day. Did the two of you spend all your time in the pool?" To which Hina gave a big smile. Which means Chihiro hasn't eaten.

Hina looked a little annoyed with me all of a sudden? "Well what's the problem with that, besides staying in the pool all day is preferred over me exploding with anger isn't it?" I sighed at her answer again, causing her to get more upset.

"Chi hasn't eaten all day. I told her to sleep in since she was extremely tried, and if you two went to the pool soon after your outburst then she wouldn't have time to go and eat right? Sometimes I worry about her, she seems like the person who would get so immersed in her tasks that the end of the world simply wouldn't bother her." This answer caused Hina to do a 180 flip in her emotions.

However, she regained her composure quickly enough "O-Oh right. I brought some snacks to the pool because I knew that with Chi there, I would spend the whole day in there. She looked pretty hungry, so I decided to share with her! Heh heh, that reaction is the exact same on that she made when I offered, although it took her some conversing to get them down her system." Huh, Hina's a lot more merciful with her snacks than I once thought! She eventually yawned, "It's been great chatting with you 'Koto, but now I've gotta go to sleep. Night!" She walked past me waving goodbye and I waved back.

I went to the boy's locker room, as I usually do, and as per usual, I was the first one there. Although maybe he's still in the pool. There's no rule against that anyway.

Opening the door showed, that yes, he was still in the pool, without the lights on. "Hey, Chi. Do you like the lights out or do you want me to turn them back on?"

A little noise that he somehow made showed he was aware of my presence. Which is a good first step. "O-Oh, sorry, I didn't release you'd be here so soon! Right, err, let me get out and dried and then we can begin to train!" I simply nodded and headed back inside the changing room. It didn't take long for him to go back in the training room and to throw on his training suit. "Right, sorry to keep you waiting. I should had realized that you were coming in here in hindsight."

If I had a pancake for every time, he was like this, I'd have at least 10. "Hey, don't worry about it, I'm just glad you're hanging out with other people. Say, how did Hina convince you to join her anyway."

In response to this, he began to blush, which was so adorable that if it could melt hearts, my body would be a puddle- “Well, I was sleeping in, like you asked, then I walked in front of Hina by accident and she fell on me. She seemed really angry at the time so I suggested maybe she should go to the pool and then she wanted me to come as well. I couldn't say no so I just went with her..." Well, it may not be intentional, but he's getting to know people other than me well, so that's awesome. I decided to start some pushups, since I feel that's a smart move and he followed suit.

So, after a while of focusing on our training, I decided to begin to talk. "Hey, is there anyone you wanted to hang out with when you first got here. I mean, imagine if you weren't in this position and everyone was more comfortable with talking with each other. Who would you want to hang out with the most? Also, saying everyone is cheating." A look of puzzlement came over his face for a little while as he put his finger on his chin.

We sat in silence for a while, until he began to talk again. "The person I wanted to hang out most with was Mondo. I really wanted to get over this weakness I had, and I felt the best way to do that was to try and talk to someone big and strong to see if they could help me out. To be honest, if you didn't interact with me so much, I would had most likely gone to Mondo. To be honest though, I didn't really have any preference. If people wanted to hang out, I wouldn't mind if they just came and said they wanted to, you know?" Huh, that's pretty different from how I do things I suppose. I'm the conversation starter. Now that I think about it, why don't people hang out more often, they just stay by themselves. It's not a big deal.

We continued to exercise for a while, however for some reason I'm feeling incredibly out of breath. I can hear my heart racing and my breath going out of control. How long have we been doing this? I picked up the Monopad and it turned out it was 2am. So, for 4 hours. Huh. "Hey, can we end this for today..." He turned to look at me and then his face of confusion of sorts, turned into one of shock.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't realize you were so tired! Yeah, let's head back to our rooms." We began to walk to our rooms, when he stopped and started looking around, mainly at the third floor. I stopped to try and hear what he's hearing, but I simply can't over my tiredness. "I-I think we should get to bed, quickly." He sounded panicked and got my hand and speed walked over to our rooms. "Night 'Koto." He still looks pretty scared, but before I could ask, he went off.

After what felt like a while, I responded with "Night, Chi." to nobody. I went into my bedroom and instantly feel asleep on my bed.

Day 8/14 Finished!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> April Fool's. How fitting isn't it. I am so sorry this took so long I kept putting it off and I wanted to come back to this but for some reason I just couldn't bring myself to do so and sorry this Chapter is so short, I don't think either of the characters would be super social with our egg. Anyway see you in 17 years guys!
> 
> *Also for past readers, I took out a paragraph as it ended up being incorrect information and I feel kind of silly about that. It doesn't have anything to do with the future, so don't worry about that*


	13. Day 9: Brusied Money

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another day, another time to fear. Monokuma has some news for Makoto, and it's not good.

"Wake up sleepy head, ‘cuz it's morning! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" Monokuma's robotic voice ran out, at this point, I'm used to him waking me up, which is still something that I don't get. However, that's no reason to complain. I stretched my arms and yawned. My body feels tired still, I was up until 2am training with Chi after all, so that makes sense to me at least.

Opening my eyes, I saw a paw on my bed, which doesn't make sense, but OK. I got up and went over to put my clothes on. When I turned around, I saw that the paw belonged to Monokuma. "AHHHHHHHHHH!!!" I screamed within seconds, why is he here?

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA! That reaction was simply amazing. Glad I woke you up like that, in the memory album it goes!" Monokuma laughing at my misfortunes has become a running trend at this point and it's making me regret everything. "But seriously, you know what's surprised me, you've never been awake for a body discovery. You fell asleep when you saw the snake playing as a stunk and then you were a dead body, so I'll give you the privilege of finding the body first! Good luck kiddo!" My heartbeat skyrocketed with every word he said, and I can barely hear my thoughts over my breathing. Someone else is dead, I-I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't see him anymore; he must had left while I was panicking. It's a lie, right?

Y-Yeah, it is. No one will kill over money, we've already been over this as a group, I-I'll prove it as well! We'll show Monokuma that he's powerless against us, besides if people would kill for money, then the executions would stop them! Yeah, we've got the Ultimate Prosecutor on our side, we'll win this, I know we will!

As quick as I could, I picked up the notepad I got yesterday and wrote down everyone's names. This will prove that everyone is still alive. I took off to the door, until I realized I was still in training clothes, and I've also not washed myself. I've got no reason to rush, since nobody is dead, because no one will kill, ever.

I was the fastest I'd ever been, but that's just because I want to prove him wrong, yeah that's it! I walked around and saw that Hina was the only one in the cafeteria, so that's weird. Maybe Sakura's just training by herself today, or maybe Hina's taking a break or something. Also, I noticed Junko in the washroom, people have to wash their clothes, nothing wrong with that.

OK, only two people on the first floor, so that's a little worrying. Wait why don't I use the map feature; they should be on there right! Yeah, then all of my worries should go away.

I tapped on the Monopad to discover that the map option was disabled. O-Oh ok, Monokuma's really going at it with the fake death isn't he...

There's no one I can hear in the changing rooms, so that's unlikely. I peeked open the Library to see Byakuya, OK, he's safe. I can cross his name off. Still not including myself, that's only 3 people that I've seen, and Chi isn't one of them...

"What are you doing?" I jumped up in shock at Byakuya's words. He was looking down at me and not just because of my height, which is sadly not unusual knowing him.

There's no point in lying to him, he'd figure me out really quickly, so I'll just tell him the truth. "Monokuma appeared in my room and told me someone died... I don't believe him, and to prove him wrong, I've got a list of people's names and I'm going to get them all crossed off!" I tried to keep confident, since I know no one has died.

He smirked at my answer. "Hmph, so someone else has died. Interesting, I suppose since you weren't around on the morning that the other talentless hack bit the dust, he decided to let you have the fun of finding the dead body for yourself. Very well, I shall accompany you on your search, I will not have you or anyone else gain a head start on the investigation." Not the answer I exactly hoped for, but if he's wanting to search with me, then I'll take it. Happiest I've ever seen him. We checked the rest of the second floor to find no one around.

So, everyone's partying on the third floor? H-Huh maybe Sakura led everyone up there for a surprise for Hina...? "Wow, the REC room is a mess, let's see if they're all in here." I'm turning the handle and it's not moving? Maybe shaking might work...

"What on Earth are you doing?" That was Byakuya, who then pushed me out of the way to try and do it himself, which didn't work for him either.

We decided to leave that area, however we heard something from the inside the REC room, which allowed the door to open. Celeste was in the room and injured. "Celeste, what happened!" She was pretty badly bruised all over her body, well, over the body that wasn't covered by clothes anyway, with the odd addition of some bandages on her ear. There was also a noticeable pile of objects leading towards the vent in the room.

"I woke up at the Monokuma announcement and then I was attacked by a masked person, who was using that hammer. I didn't have anything on me, but I played dead and after that I forced the door closed, which is why you couldn't get in the room." Celeste pointed at a hammer as she said this, which does look like it's been used, there's blood on it.

"Interesting, so then, maybe this attacker is the person who killed the person who we're going to find on the cold hard ground. This makes this game more interesting." Celeste looks kind of confused at his answer, promoting him to say, "Tell them Naegi."

Wait why did he use my last name, he isn't like Hifumi who called everyone by their last name. Why this is important to me. I've got to shake those thoughts out and focus! "Monokuma woke me up this morning and told me someone was dead." My explanation was quick, but I think she heard it, since she suddenly looked a bit sympathetic. I need to still search around the school, but if there really is someone who hurt her, we can't leave her by herself! "Celeste, come with us. We'll have safety in numbers, and you're hurt. As soon as we find out that no one's dead, we'll take you to the nurses office." Byakuya scoffed at me, but Celeste stood up, as if to say she accepted my offer.

We walked around the third floor. No one was in the art room, and back art room was locked. Ok, running out of options to surprise us guys... No one was in the classrooms either. The physics lab was the only place left to look, and I froze. There's no one in the physics lab, so then they must be in the back room? I mean, there's the smell of dounts in there, so maybe it's just a surprise party, or everyone's just playing a mean trick on me, right? So then why is it so hard for me to turn the door and open it. I don't know how long I was on the handle, but it felt like forever. Opening the door was the hardest thing I've had to do in my life.

The once Ultimate Baseball Star had 3 holes in his neck and streams of blood near him, revealing the method of murder pretty much instantly. The room seemed to be free of damage, so Leon was attacked by a sneak attack, although he definitely tensed up, as his hand is tightly closed. "A body has been discovered! You shall be given time to investigate after which a Class Trial will begin." I can't believe it, Monokuma was right. The world's beginning to stop. If anyone spoke, I don't think I'd notice them.

Leon was someone unique compared to most people in this school. He despised being called the Ultimate Baseball Star and wanted to change that by ironically using baseball. I guess I can relate to that. I hate only being known for something I'm convinced I don't have and I'm changing that in this school. He was nice, I suppose. I didn't really interact with him much, but he seemed kind, since he did forgive Sayaka for trying to kill him and and then framing me. I suppose we're not so different then, huh.

My breathing is getting shaky and my body feels like it's been though a freezer or something. I have to calm down or something, Celeste still needs medical attention, so I'll wait outside of the room with her for people to come. I motion her to follow and Byakuya either doesn't notice or ignores me.

I waited outside of the room and soon everyone turned up and I explained everything that happened, although I left out the information about the fact I slept in and the notepad, as those things aren't as important. The reactions were neutral at best, makes sense considering what's happened throughout the day. Now we're just wondering what to do. Kyoko and Toko went into the room where Leon were, although I think Toko was more doing it so then she could be with Byakuya.

"Right, we need a team to look after Celeste and a team to help investigate. Hina, Chihiro, we'll take Celeste down to the nurse's office and look after her while the rest of the group investigates!" Junko took charge right away and nobody had any verbal objections, but Chi still looked pretty worried, and while everyone started to move, he's clearly hesitating.

"If it's alright with you guys, I think I should swap with Chihiro. She's usually better at solving the cases than me," Sayaka spoke up, surprising everyone, but Junko simply nodded and shrugged, walking off. Sakura decided not to argue and walked into the room, which left us two by ourselves.

"H-Hey hey, can I investigate with you, like we did before?" He's acting sheepish, a lot more than he normally is. "I just feel like I can do more when I'm with you, you know?" I mean, he knows that I'm going to say yes, but having him wanting to investigate does calm me down a bit.

I head on down to eye-level and smile. "Hey, I can trust you with pretty much anything at this point, so having someone like that around would make everything easier, besides with you being at my side, I'll know you'll be safe." He nodded in response and I smiled and stood up. "Just, try not to look at the body too much. Especially if you don't like the sight of it." This noticeably put a damper on the conversation, but I felt it had to be stated.

We entered the room, to see Kyoko, Toko and Byakuya all investigating to the best of their abilities, so we have to do our best too! First thing I noticed was some black hair on Leon. The only one with black hair is Celeste, so we'll have to ask her about that.

Chihiro was on his hands and knees, scanning the floor, when he spoke up. "There's a smashed plate or something on the ground. Oh, and there's crumbs too!" That's pretty confusing, why would there be those things in this room. He then looked under the table and pulled something out, a yellow earring. Chi got up and stared at something. "Hey, did you forget to pick up your Monopad?" Chi called to me. I walked over and saw a pile of Monopads and a piece of blue cloth. Which confused the heck out of me, since Monokuma didn't even appear this time.

"Monokuma came in and gave us the information for the trial and left quickly. I assume he likes having an audience because he looked disappointed." That stoic voice was obviously from Kyoko, so at least she knows what's going on. With the Monopad in my hand, me and Chi turned on the Monopad and took a look at the information together.

"The victim was the Ultimate Baseball Star, Leon Kuwata. His neck was broken at 2am which was the killing blow." So, the people who were up seem more likely, although to be honest, that doesn't tell us anything we don't already know which is a huge problem for all involved. But that's fine, we'll find the killer anyway.

I saw Kyoko staring at the ground, causing me and Chi to walk over to her to look at the ground. We saw two different different wrappers, one clear plastic one and one with a red and white pattern. She didn't even look at us when she walked away, guess she's really focused on investigating. I saw her walking over to Toko who was trying to get a message out of Leon's hand, to no avail. Kyoko simply pushed her aside to Toko's complaining and instantly opened it. "Hmm, this only has the time of 12am on it, so he was lured here by letter. Interesting, does anyone have paper?" She looked around to us all, with a calm yet stern look.

"Yeah, I do." She turned to me as I took out the paper and pen, I used for keeping track of who was alive and who was dead before we found Leon.

"Ah yes, your paper of denial. Honestly, I'm amazed you even believed that someone didn't die, but fools shall remain fools, even when their lives are in danger I suppose." Ignoring him as best as I could, I got the paper and pen out then gave it to Kyoko. She looked at it for a second before handing it to everyone.

"Everyone apart from Makoto write your names on the paper." No one complained as they knew it'd be a waste of time. After the paper went around, she looked at it and nodded, before putting it in her pocket. There's no point in arguing with her I suppose. She knows what she's doing. There's a disturbing lack of clues though and looking at their faces, everyone else can tell too.

"I-I don't get what you're all so worried about. The culprit is obvious!" Toko's yell surprised us all, but I guess if she found clues it wouldn't hurt to listen to her theory. "It's obviously Celeste! U-Use your heads for a second. She acted surprised when she heard someone died, but that's out of character for her, and she got scared even though she was safe! She faked the attack so then she could gain sympathy so then you idiots wouldn't suspect her!" She pointed at me when she called me an idiot, which sadly doesn't surprise me anymore. But still, talking Celeste isn't a bad idea, we don't know why she was up or why she was attacked.

Yeah, we should most likely go look for her. "Hey, we're off to go interview Celeste. I'll write down the answers on some backup paper. If you find anymore clues, let us know." Everyone either ignored me or nodded. We headed on out and walked on down the stairs.

"I can't believe Leon's dead." I turned to Chihiro, who had a look of complete misery on his face. "I didn't know him that well, but it's another human life just gone. He didn't deserve this, no one did..." He's already soaked in tears.

Honestly, I understand his feelings, but I really do hate seeing him like this. "Yeah, you're right. Let's keeping moving forward, for them at least. We can't let their memories and dreams be lost forever, right?" This didn't stop the waterflow, but it did thankfully slow it down. We arrived at the door to the nurse's office. "Hey, just, try not to get super depressed OK? I need my assistant to help me out during this interview." I'm not sure if that worked, but I think he likes being my assistant or at least being with me, so I should just try make him happy.

I opened the door to the nurse's office to see Celeste asleep and the smell of lots of anti-bacterial spray. "A body has been discovered! You shall be given time to investigate after which a Class Trial will begin."

An echoing silence filled the air. The only sounds were the steps I made to see if she was really dead. Putting my hands on her pulse gave the answer. "Why? Why did someone else have to die today?"

The one person we needed to ask questions, and she's now dead. "Oh god, what happened!" Junko rushed into the room, followed by Hina and Sayaka, the latter of whom was holding a cup. The three girls rushed into the room all in a panic, all trying to do something to bring Celeste back to life.

"Where we all of you?" Chi was soaked in tears once again and outright screaming, which surprised all of us. "Weren't you guys supposed to look after Celeste? She was attacked by someone and when we come to interview her, we find her dead and alone!" The screaming turned into sobbing as fast as he talked.

Sayaka immediately started to look worried. "Junko and Aoi told me to go grab some food! I was twenty minutes at most, I thought they were going to be with her!"

"Hold on! We never told you to do that, you said you were going to do it by yourself!" Junko shouted at Sayaka in a panic. "Besides, how does it take you twenty minutes to make a meal!"

Sayaka started to get louder. "Well, I wanted her to feel comfortable, unlike you who only knows how to look good without feeling good!" The two started to get more and more heated.

Meanwhile Aoi tapped Chi's shoulder. "Hey Chi..." She looked green and was covering her mouth trying not to throw up. "C-Can you help me out please..." Chi got the message and started to shiver a bit. "S-Sorry, I know it's..." She couldn't finish the sentence. I passed him the notebook in a panic and motioned him to get out, which he did, although he clearly didn't want to.

"So then, Celeste is dead?" Kyoko came into the room, with a calm expression. Followed by Byakuya. "This is problematic. She was the one who you two were planning to interview for answers and now she's dead. we left Sakura and Toko up in the room with Leon, since we have to be careful. However, I think we only need one person for this job, since it would be impossible for me, Chihiro, Byakuya, Makoto, Toko or Sakura to commit this murder, so one of those 6 should do it." She remained the calmest of the group.

"Speaking of, where is the coward?" Byakuya had a way with words doesn't he.

"Off with Aoi, she's about to throw up so Chi's helping her out." Byakuya scoffed, but that's not important right now, we need to figure out what happened. "OK, so how about we go to investigate at different times. I'll go investigate until Chi's done with Aoi, then I'll head back here to sort out any other issues and interview Sayaka and Junko. Chi has the notepad right now, so if she can get Aoi to stop throwing up, we'll have an extra interview in our bags." The other two decided not to complain, and I went off to go and do his job.

Right, I should check out the Kitchen, since Sayaka was there, so maybe there's a clue? In there, I could see that nothing really had moved, although the only thing that was in the bin were some tea bags and a milk cartoon. Does it take 20 minutes to make some tea? There's also recently cleaned knife and fork here, which is strange. But there seems to be no more clues here. That's weird...

As I walked out of the Kitchen, the exact same wrapper as the ones in the room where Leon was murdered! So, they were in here as well, interesting.

I walked back to the nurse's office and found Chi and Hina waiting outside. "Oh, 'Koto!" The two talked in unison, causing a slight giggle from Hina, then they walked over to me. Glad to see she's not totally depressed over everything.

Chi was the first one to speak up, "I got Aoi's Testimony here. You might have to give it over to Kyoko and Byakuya, so maybe you should just go over it now and then hand it to them?"  I nodded to his question and opened up the piece of paper.

'I was in the bathroom before Sayaka went to get lunch and was here until you found the body. Junko left me halfway through the sickness although she came back for a short bit before the body was found, with some bleach.' This message was written in the most adorable handwriting, as if a young child were to write it. I guess he has no real reason to write since he's the greatest computer user in the world.

I handed it back to him and the three of us went into the hospital. There, Chi gave the interview to Kyoko, and then I had a quick look around before I would begin to interview the other two. Kyoko motioned towards the covers and so I peeked under them to find a rabbit hairpin. As I brought my head out from under them, I took a quick look at that trash can to find something that looked vaguely like food, and looking very closely, which was hard to do, I saw some blue wrapping paper and some smashed plates. Celeste face was smudged, which was confusing to say the least, and she's covered up completely so it's impossible to see what the wound looks like, since none of us know, or want to undress her.

I then picked up the Monopad for Celeste's death. "Taeko Yasuhiro was killed by a cut to the neck at 9.15am." Very descriptive, but still, who is Taeko Yasuhiro? Are they the real Celeste? There are so many questions for this and now we'll never know...

There doesn't seem to be anything else in here, guess I should start the interviews. Junko or Sayaka? I think that Junko might be better to go first. I tapped on her shoulder and motioned her to follow. "Guess you want to hear my side of the tale? Hehe, I'll be glad to prove my innocence." She has an air of confidence about her, but she followed me out, as did Chi, who was walking pretty close to me.

We walked back into the cafeteria where Junko sat down with a relaxed look on her face, and we sat on the other side, as I handed my tools over to Chi. "So then, who's gonna be good cop, and who's gonna be bad cop. Just kidding, Makoto's totally bad cop, I just can't see the cinnam-"

"Junko, we don't have much time, I'm just going to ask you the first question. What were you doing when you were supposed to look after Celeste?" I definitely could had been a little more polite about it, but I still interrupted Junko to make sure we stayed on track.

Then the Fashionista let out an exaggerated sigh. "Welp, you're definitely the bad cop. Anyway, I was just with Aoi while she was throwing up, didn't leave her side to be honest." She explained quickly, which was a surprisingly quick answer. What else can I ask her.

I thought for a couple of seconds then had the question I wanted to ask. "What do you know about Sayaka and what she was doing." She then put her legs on the table, which caused Chi to look away and I simply kept looking onwards to her.

Something seemed to surprise her, as could be told by her face. "Huh, didn't even look away. That's a shock. Anyway, yeah, she left after we did to get food, so I didn't see her until we all found the body." Well, that wasn't very helpful, but we got her location at least. I nodded to Chi and then stood up.

"Right well, I don't think I have any more questions for you. Can you get Sayaka to come here please?" Trying to be a serious interviewer feels very weird to be honest, as I had to be firm and serious.

Junko rolled her eyes but walked away quickly. "Hey, so do you want me to head back with these notes, or should I wait?" Chi spoke up, trying to read his own handwriting.

I leaned back in my chair and started to relax a bit, searching though my brain for the answer. I then gave out a short reply. "Nah, you'd be going back twice." Chi nodded and turned the page over. Quickly afterwards Sayaka came into the room and Makoto threw himself into a more professional form and began to speak up. "Take a seat." She did so and I fired the first question. "Hey, so what were you doing when Celeste died?"

She then did a typical thinking pose as she answered. "I was in the kitchen, making Celeste food and tea. I didn't see either of the two after they went to the toilet." I nodded and Chi started to write down what was said.

I should get some more information. "Is there anything that was different about the nurse's office?" I noticed she perked up at this question, so she knows something.

She did a point which accidently came off as dramatic and spoke loudly. "There was a new smell of spray in there and the bleach from inside the cupboard has disappeared." I nodded and then tried to think of another question, however I was rudely interrupted.

"Another one has been sent to their death and so without the extra pair of everything, will you survive? Hope you get to see another day, that way I get to spread more despair! BWAHAHAHA!" Monokuma's voice rang out of the speaker, and Sayaka simply looked at me. I gave a slight nod, as I knew that she wanted to head to the red door, and I got out of my chair.

Chi got out of it and started to look at me. "I don't know how many more of these trials I can take, 'Koto. Seeing everyone argue and then we have to send someone to their deaths. Even if we do get out of this place, will it be worth it?" Tears are welling up in his eyes, and he's starting to shiver.

I went back down to his level and placed my hands firmly on his shoulders. He didn't have to turn much to meet my eyes, which works for me. "Chi. You are not responsible for anything. You're just an innocent put in a horrible situation, being forced to survive, as are the rest of us. I know you hate voting for the killer, but please, don't put the blame on yourself. This is all Monokuma's fault. We will get out of this place and we will make sure that no one died for nothing. So please, I know it's hard, but remain strong, OK? You don't have to like it, I don't, but it's sadly something we have to live with. Besides, you've got your father out there. He's not going to blame you for anything." I reached in for a hug. "So please, don't blame yourself." The hug was reciprocated, although we both knew it had to be cut short, and so we both let go at the same time.

Chi wiped his eyes and spoke up. "I-I'll try not to." I gave out a small smile to that.

"That's all I could ask for." That was all that I could respond with.

We rushed outside to the elevator hall where everyone was waiting. Chi passed the note to Kyoko, which was quickly snatched by Byakuya, although due to the purple girl's reaction, I think she read it all anyway. The elevator opened with nobody speaking. At this point, I think we all know that our voices are going to have to be saved for the trial.

Celeste. Or Taeko Yasuhiro. I don't know how many of your words were truths and what were lies. If you kept your own name from us, what else did you keep. So many secrets that she took to her grave, hopefully we find out what the last one you took was. For Leon and for you Celeste. Let's do this. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So then, a double murder. Yeahhhhh, I know. Leon and Celeste are two characters who I didn't really care about. Leon just gets no time to shine and his personality doesn't interest me, and I don't like Celeste that much, plus because she lies, it's hard to tell what she's about. Like a less extreme verison of Kokichi. Well, I apoloigse if, which I most likely did, these two a severe injustice. Also it took me over 3 months to update this. Yeah, I am not the greatest at this thing called being consistent or not getting distracted. Apologies if anyone was exticed to see this thing and then I'm just like, nah. I can only promise to try to improve. Anyway, see you later as I've got a trial to write, I would say see you in a few years or months, but I'm slightly worried that it might happen.


	14. Deadly Life: The Third Trial!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the surprize murders of Celeste and Leon, the remaining 9 students go into the class trial to see whom is the killer of this case!

We arrived at the trial grounds and once again, proceeded to walk to our position. This time, we saw two new portraits with them being crossed out. Leon's looked like an out symbol you'd see in baseball, and Celeste had one although it was a stop sign, not a cross. Guess it's a fake?

Shouldn't concern myself with that right now, I've got bigger fish to fry. We need to find the killer of the two. Once again, Monokuma's voice rang out. "Now then, time for an explanation of the Class Trial. It's your job to figure out whodunit and then you'll have to vote on who you think the blackened is, if you succeed, the blackened gets punished, however if you fail then you'll take the punishment instead and the blackened will escape. Now then, let's get this class trial rolling!"

Everyone began to think independently of each other, but we need to work as a team. I should start then. "Right, first things first, who killed Leon? Since he died first, it would make sense to solve his murder first."

Toko pointed at Celeste's portrait. "It was Celeste of course! I've already told you all this!" The writer screamed out with stress all over her voice, grabbing herself for some reason.

That does make sense, there's a lot of evidence, however a calm voice popped up. "While Celeste does seem likely, we should make sure it is Celeste. Why would she have those blue wrappers in there?" Kyoko stood there, as calm as ever, although she didn't seem to have any emotion on her face. Guess she does this a lot...

The statement caused Aoi to jump up in shock. "My sweet wrappers where in there?" Half of the class turned to her in shock, which caused her to go into a panic. She threw her hand behind her head and tried to laugh it off. "Well, I mean, they're not my sweets, I just eat them all..." Hina's clearly nervous, looking like she had just gotten out of a pool.

"You were one of the people 'Koto saw awake, which means that's more evidence on you..." Chi quietly spoke up, clearly uncomfortable with what he's doing.

Sakura however, remained completely calm. "I can confirm that Hina and I were up training at the usual time Monokuma would wake us up. Then I had business to take care of, so she remained in the cafeteria until the you found the body." Hina nodded in agreement and approval.

Byakuya wasn't having any of it though, and with his posh annoying voice, stated "How does this prove that they're not working together. Due to the time limit coming to a close, maybe they just got desperate to save a friend?" He's condescending to say the least.

However, he's also wrong, which works well for me. "There's simply not enough evidence to prove that those two planned this out, unlike with Celeste."

"Which is what I've been saying all this time!" Toko threw her hands into the air and screamed right after I finished my sentence, catching everyone off-guard.

If you looked closely, you could see a vein pop, like how angry characters in anime usually do. "Quiet." His voice was filled with venom, which worked in causing Toko to be quiet at least.

Hina and Chi both had nervous expressions though, with the latter speaking up. "But if Celeste is dead, how can we confirm or deny that she was the one to commit the murder?" He's right, there's no real way to tell if Celeste was the killer.

His observation made a few more of us more worried, including me, however Kyoko still was calm. "Technically, it was impossible for us to be 100% sure that either of the last two 'Blackened' were the actual murder. While they did confess, it could had been possible they were lying due to grief or they were misreading the situation they were in. However, the evidence lined up so even if they didn't confess, they were the most likely suspect. In this case, Celeste is by far the most likely suspect." Her words did manage to give me confidence in our decision and while I'm not sure if it worked for everyone else, I do feel better about this.

I heard a confused noise from Sayaka, so I think I should explain. "There's a lot linking Celeste to this murder. First Leon had black hair on him, and Celeste is the only person who has that colour hair, plus we found her earring underneath a table. Lastly, she was up and as Toko said, she's been acting a bit weird, so it's likely her." Everyone nodded in understanding, so it seems we've reached that conclusion.

Junko is looking pretty excited for this. "Alright, let's switch on over to Celeste's case then, whoever did that did us all a favor if you ask me!" The reactions to Junko's words are clearly divisive between us.

Chi's clearly on the side that isn't excited. "Still, that just means someone else is going to die..."

"At least we don't have to deal with her lying. It could be problematic when trying to get her to admit to the murder." Kyoko was pretty calm, although I don't think I'm on her side, she is right.

Actually, I think I could bring up a topic that I still want answers for. "Talking about Celeste's murder, there's something I want cleared up. Junko... Why did you lie in your testimony?" I pointed at the Ultimate Fashionista, who wasn't fazed.

She gave a peace sign to me and grinned massively. "Aw come on 'Koto, would I lie to you?" She's pretty confident, but I can't use that as proof either way. I should just tell her the proof.

"Well, Hina said you left halfway through her being sick, and you returned with bleach, which Sayaka noticed was missing from before she left to when we found the body..." Chi was the first one to speak up, but Junko wasn't fazed.

She kept smiling, although it was less of a grin now. "Come on Chi, unlike with mine and Sayaka's interviews, it was only you right? Who's to say that Hina over here didn't threaten your life?" The class went quiet, as a dark atmosphere filled the air. Junko just causally stated that Hina threatened Chi to remain quiet. They were both pretty cheerful when I saw them before, plus I don't think Chi could fake that. Then again, he does keep a lot of secrets.

"Why would I threaten Chi's life!" Hina was the first to panic and anger, which was a very understandable reaction.

"Well, assuming that your theory is right Junko, Chihiro has nothing to lose by being honest here, therefore, let's ask her. Chihiro, did Aoi threaten your life?" Chi shook his head with full confidence. "Since Chihiro has no reason to lie about anything, especially since her life isn't the only one on the line." She gave a quick glance at me before continuing, "Therefore, I believe we can take their words with truth."

"Hold it right there!" Junko interrupted Kyoko, with a bombastic voice, and she was clearly beginning to panic now. "Even if what I said about Aoi threatening Chi isn't true, that doesn't mean I lied!"

Kyoko turned to me. "Makoto, you handle this." Huh? Why does she want me to do it?

"M-Me?" That little stammer was all I could get out before Junko began to talk again.

"Despite the fact that Chi wasn't threatened.   
It's still possible Aoi lied to her.   
There's no proof that I was gone after all!   
So I'm sorry guys, but I'm not the lead you want!   
Since Aoi lied, it's obvious that she's the one that's most suspicious!"

There's something wrong with what she said, and I know exactly what it is! "Let me cut to the chase!" I shouted the exact same thing as last time because thinking of these things is hard, hopefully no one judges me on that. "There is proof you left! Sayaka mentioned that a bottle of bleach was missing from when she left to when we found the body, and Aoi said you brought one in!" Junko at this point looks defeated.

She sighed and looked towards the ground, as well as crossed her arms. "Yeah, you got me. I lied." She quickly got upset though. "That does not make me the murderer though!" Junko has a look of sadness on her face, more than anything. Strange.

The blue haired woman next to me spoke up. "Even so, you're the most likely suspect. Although we can't really do anything unless we can find something to link you with the body, therefore I don't think our testimonies matter much." True, but I do think I found something.

"The rabbit pin under Celeste's sheets. That's the proof you're the killer Junko. You had to put it there after Celeste died, otherwise it wouldn't be on top of her. So, you went off to attack her and then left it there." I pointed my finger at her and spoke in the most confident tone I could manage, although the looks I got from everyone else seemed to be more of pity, although Sayaka patted me on the shoulder, and gave me a soft smile.

This, however, didn't have the effect I had expected on Junko. She looked confident! What is she planning? "I'm glad you found that to be honest 'Koto, cuz it's the single thing that proves I'm not the murder!" The entire room went into shock. She can't be serious. The one bit of proof that means she's the killer, and she's denying it, "Oh, sorry, you're confused. Guess that makes sense. In fact, 'Koto is most likely the most confused of all, so I'll give you the honor Chi. Try to remember what happened when you saw 'Koto's body!" What?

Chi's looking too close to how he looked when he found out about Chiaki. I can't just stand here! I have to yell out! "You can't just pressure her like that!"

"I'm the one being pressured here, being framed for murder and all. Besides, I'm not saying she's a part of this, she could never kill someone, and I like that about her. I'm asking her since you weren't conscious for what happened the last few times." Junko was dismissive of my complaints, but I don't know what she's on about. I'm sorry, but you're gonna have to help me out here.

Sayaka noticeably leaned in to whisper to me. "I think she's lying, but just hold out for now, ok?"  This was enough to steady me somewhat.

He had a typical thinking pose, although he was covered in sweat. "Err, after we found Taka's body, I was focused on finding you, since you didn't turn up. I opened the door and found your body, lying there. Aoi and Kyoko came into the room after me, and the body discovery announcement played." He's starting to tear up, understandable I suppose.

Junko however was indifferent to his issues. "Great, now if I'm not mistaken, you were one of the first people to find Yasuhiro's body. Tell us about that." Chi nodded his head, although he's clearly not comfortable with the thought.

"After me and Sayaka returned 'Koto's body to a safe location, Leon knocked on our door, saying there was a dead body. When we went to Yasuhiro's room, we found it." He's shaking a bit. Everyone else isn't comfortable with this trip down memory lane.

"Good, now try to link those two situations together! What happened in those two situations that were almost the same!" Junko's sounding pretty forceful, although not as rude as I would expect from someone in her situation.

Chi had a thinking look on his face, until it turned to one of realization and horror. "The body discovery announcement..." He looked over at me and saw my confusion. "You were unconscious for this, but Monokuma explained it to us. 3 non-killers have to see the body for the announcement to go off..." His face looked like he was piecing things at 9000 miles per hour, however I think I'm going to take over for him.

"Well, how does that change anything?"

Junko then grinned sinisterly at my simple question. "...Heh. This will change everything. Both my fate... and... yours!" Something tells me she's trying to be overdramatic, but her delivery is falling kind of flat, which was unanimously agreed on, causing her to smile sheepishly. "This is my first time being in this kind of situation. So, sorry about that. Anyway 'Koto, I put that thing under Celeste's sheets, right?" I nodded, as did everyone else. "So then, the question is how? Simple, because I came across the body afterwards. I wouldn't be dumb enough to put that before. Besides, do you really think her killer would be in enough state of mind to put her in bed. Of course not, that was all me! Besides, how could it had been you two to activate it, if there wasn't a third person, right?" She raises a good point, although I'm sure her theory is flawed somewhere.

Byakuya in fact was a doubter, I can tell by his face. "Interesting theory. However, it seems convenient that you bring this up now. Besides, it's entirely possible that someone else saw the body before you."

"P-Plus, why would you put her inside of her b-bed, unless you were trying to hide evidence!" Toko launched out.

Sakura, however, was quick to speak up. "We don't have many over leads at the current moment. It would be the wisest choice to follow this one. If it is false, we can simply vote for Junko." I saw a few of us nod with that.

"Oh boy! It's that time of the week again! Debate Scrum time! I can't even think up anything creative to say, I'm just so gosh darn excited!" The screen lit up once again, revealing two choices. "Junko is telling the truth" and "Junko is lying." I see no harm in agreeing with her for now, so let's keep on going.

After 30 seconds the podiums went upwards once again. This time, Junko, Chi, Sakura, Kyoko and I were on one side, while a saddened Hina, Byakuya, Toko and Sayaka were on another side. This one should hopefully be short.

Byakuya started things off. "This seem too convenient to be true, there has been no reason to hide this information from us."

Kyoko however attacked back. "There would also be no reason for her to reveal this information to us."

Toko spoke up. "S-Still, why was that rabbit pin so hard to find!"

Chi was the next one to counter. "It's possible she hid it just in case if the killer returned."

Hina then retorted with a point of her own. "However, Junko just disappearing makes no sense. Why would she just run off like that?"

Now it was Sakura's turn. "It's entirely possible it was just a coincidence. After all, she brought back bleach, maybe she wanted to get some so Monokuma wouldn't be upset?"

Sayaka responded quickly to this statement. "Even so, there's no way that anyone could go in there before Junko came back."

Wait, that's it. Oh no, that's it. Still, I have to speak up. "There's a person who could reasonable fit those guidelines..." The entire room simply looked at me. Junko nodded, proving my idea correct. The opposing side decided to back down, as did the podiums.

In our original positions, I was getting stared at. "Well, plebeian? Who is this mysterious person?" Byakuya wants my answer and I know I have to give it to him. But I have to make sure of everything.

As I have done before, I close my eyes and was once again on a grind rail. So then, the first question was 'Is Junko telling the truth?' I'm going to go with yes, otherwise we'd be making a mistake I feel. 'Who is the only other person with the ability to go into the Nurse's office?' ...Sayaka. 'Is there any way that it couldn't had been someone else?' Hina would had been seen by Junko and no one left the room outside of us two. 'Proof that Sayaka was in the room?' The plates in the bin, Junko can't have gotten them, otherwise Sayaka would had noticed. "The answer... is clear..." Why bother trying to hide my feelings, it doesn't work anyway.

"Sheesh, try to sound a bit optimistic please! Do you really hate me that much that you're this disappointed that I'm not the killer?" Junko called out to me, although I can't tell if she's annoyed at me, or if she's teasing me.

I tried to say her name, but I can't. Please forgive me for this. I pointed at Sayaka and turned away. I don't know her face, and I sure as hell don't want her to see mine. A soft voice then came up. "Makoto, I understand why you would think that, but according to the logic Junko used, there's a huge hole in her argument." I turned to look at her, and her face noticeable looked more somber as she saw mine. "I know this is painful for you, but you don't have to worry, because I can't be the blackened, if Celeste was one of the first people to see Leon's body, right?" Wait, she's right! The first people to see it were me, Byakuya and Celeste. The body discovery announcement wouldn't go off here!

She's not the killer then. Junko had a sly smile on her face. "So then, am I the killer?" Sayaka nodded, it makes sense, she could had used a wig to disguise herself! "Well, sorry to say this, but I'm not, it's still Celeste!" Junko's desperate at this point, which everyone is noticing.

"But, the first three people at the crime scene were 'Koto, Celeste and Byakuya. At least, they were the first ones in the room, when 'Koto took Celeste out so then we could get some medical attention." Hina was the one to speak up about it, but Junko was still calm, somehow.

"You're not thinking outside of the box. Shows how much real-world experience you guys have I suppose. In a real crime scene, it's not just the cops that show up first. Sometimes other people pass on by. Not sure if that makes any sense, but what I'm saying, is that it's entirely possible someone saw the crime scene before the first three did." Then, she reached into her clothing, which caused Chi to look away in embarrassment. Guess I can see why. She then pulled out three small silver nails. "The reason why I know Celeste is the first killer, anyway, is because I saw her do it." Everyone reacted in shock.

Byakuya is the most terrifying I've ever seen him, with his glasses cracking and his fist almost digging into his skin and Chi is right next to him and looks like he's about to cry to death. “What! This is beyond infuriating. If you knew, why didn't you say so?"

"Says the person who decided to start a Scrum Debate over this exact topic." Kyoko looked pretty smug when she said this. Guess she's enjoying the chance to take revenge for what happened.

"Weren't you on his side though, Kyoko?" Hina looked like a lost animal when she said this, which made me smile a bit. She's sweet.

Sakura was still as calm and composed as ever, really impressive, I respect that a lot about her. "I do not think that is Kyoko's point. Despite this, Junko, how do we know you are telling the truth in this case?"

"Y-Yeah! I bet you're lying just because you're the killer and y-you want us all dead!" Toko was the exact opposite of Sakura. I cannot blame her one bit.

We all turned to Junko, who was starting to sweat a bit. "Heh, well, OK then! OK, first of all, I was one of the people up, right? No sane person would want to get up early, unless they're into sports. That makes me slightly more suspicious. Secondly, I was the one who choice the groups. Remember how I asked for Aoi and Chi? Well, that's because us two planned this entire murder out, and a make-up genius like me would be the only person who would be able to make Celeste's injures looks as convincing as they did. Lastly, these claws I hold in my hand. They're the murder weapon. Celeste dug right into his neck! Leon, in a panic, caught her ear, causing it to bleed thanks too ripping off her earring! That’s why she has a bandage on!" That was a lot of information to take in, in fact, some of us aren't even able to take it all in, although some of us did manage to take it in.

This included Sayaka, who looked pretty calm. "That makes you more suspicious for being Leon's murderer. After all, since Celeste attacked me, that showed she was desperate for a kill right, in order to escape from the school. Then doesn't that make it seem like you're the killer?"

"Nope, cuz I lied. I just found these in her room and thought they looked cool. However, you've just dug your grave. Celeste did kill Leon and she did attack you, but I wasn't there. Someone else must had turned up." Sayaka had a look of pure fear, contrasting Junko's big smile.

"H-Hold on! There's still a possibility that you've supplanted some kind of evidence, right?" There was a silence in the room. Her eyes lost all of the life to them, "Right...?" She's beginning to break down, tears flowing through her eyes. I turned away as soon as possible.

No one is saying a word. We've been at this for a while, so Monokuma may pounce on us if we're not careful. But I can't speak. Whenever I try, nothing comes out... I wrote down a message and threw it to Chi.

It bonked off his small head and he picked it up and unwrapped it. He skimmed the notes and spoke up. I'm sorry about this... "This note says, that it has to be Sayaka, because of the plates in the bin-" His voice was audible to the whole room, as in the background it usually is.

"But wouldn't it be possible to stop supplant that evidence!" She's beginning to shout, which is catching me off-guard, but I'm just trying to blend into the background. Can this be over please...

There was another silence, which was then stopped by Chi. "The plates in the bin, because if Junko went to get them, Sayaka would had seen her." Chi then spoke up louder. "Oh! You never said in your interview you saw Junko! If you did, you would had told us!" Then there was only sobbing. "So that's it then..."

The room was eerily quiet once again. "So then, how about we go through this case one more time, eh 'Koto?" Junko spoke up, and I was finally able to look at her, but I don't have the energy to speak. "Sheesh, you tell others not to worry or fall into despair and yet here you are in tears." She turned towards Chi. "Well, how about we let his little apprentice finish his work then." Chi looked uncomfortable, which was an understatement to how I felt. Junko then calmed down. "Hey, don't worry about trying too hard, just explain what happened. I think at least some of us are lost, and so it would be helpful. Just in case if some people don't vote." If you don't vote you die, right? I'm guessing Junko doesn't want anyone else to die, or at least she knows Chi doesn't.

This doesn't seem to cheer him up though, as he started to cry, causing another female to speak up. "Listen. If you don't do this, there's a chance everyone might die.  So please, don't be a coward. Everyone else is fine with this, because if we don’t, we'll die. It's the harsh truth, that we have to live in. If you want to grow strong, and protect those you care about, you have to do things you don't like, so please, don't hold back and end it quick." Kyoko was somehow still stoic, but her words got through to Chi, and he wiped his tears.

Chi nodded and began his explanation of the case. "It started at 2am in the morning, where Leon was attacked by Celeste, stabbing him though the neck. Then she put on some make up or hurt herself on purpose to give the aura that she was hurt. From there, while me, 'Koto, Byakuya, Sakura, Kyoko and Toko were investigating Leon's murder, Hina, Sayaka and Junko were looking after Celeste. Hina needed to be sick, so Junko took her to the toilet, Sayaka went to get her some food. She returned with food and Celeste attacked her. Sayaka managed to defend herself and kill Celeste, but she likely panicked and ran off. Junko showed up sometime later and messed with the body and returned to Hina with bleach, after maybe using something to clean up the stains. Then me and 'Koto found her body and the rest is history I suppose." Chi then took a deep breath. "The killer of Celeste, is none other than, Sayaka Maizono, the Ultimate Pop Sensation!" Everyone grunted in approval, however he looked confused. "Wait, then who was the other person to see Leon's body? Plus, who do we vote for, Celeste or Sayaka?" Wait! We never answered those questions, and he's starting to show concern, however a voice popped up.

"Hrmm, this is a sticky situation isn't it? Rule #12 does say 'If two different murders by two different murderers occur at the same time, only the one whose victim was found first will be the blackened.' However, the first murderer was killed by the second one, right? Therefore, in a weird sense, they became a victim, so they can't receive punishment, since they already got it, therefore, I shall add an extra mini rule! Rule #12.5: If one murderer kills another murderer, then the second murderer becomes the blackened!" Our Monopads bleeped with this new information. Everyone was clearly shocked, and about to protest, when Monokuma spoke up. "Anyway, you all seem like you've come to a conclusion! It's VOTING TIME!" The podiums turned into the same as was last time, pixel characters. I know what I must do, so then why is it so hard. I can hear the seconds go down, yet my body feels no rush to press it.

Suddenly the ticking stopped. The screen then showed that Sayaka was the killer? I didn't press the button yet, but I saw Sayaka's tears and soon my face matched hers. "I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean too, I was attacked..." Some of us, like Chi and Hina have looks of sympathy.

"Hmph, you could had simply run away. I will not believe someone who is a stage-woman does not have any aerobatic ability."

Byakuya was as cruel as always, someone is about to die and he's mocking her, why would he do that! "She, she was..." I can't even speak, I'm too busy sniffling and crying.

I was hugged, from Sayaka surprisingly. "I'm so sorry for everything... I've been an awful person to you Makoto... Please don't be sad, OK? I know you wanted to protect me, and everyone else..." I don't know what to do. Admittedly, hugs are nice, maybe I need this... "Listen, your endless hope and optimism. I know you don't like hurting others, but please, don't hurt yourself. We need more people like you in the world..." I decided to recuperate this hug. If she can try to feel better before she goes, then everyone might feel better about this.

"Hey Junko? Were you lying about your theory being a lie? I've been thinking about it, and your theory being a lie makes this case too simple and weird." Chi asked, worry within his voice, which did seize my interest, so I can listen in on this.

Junko gave a small giggle. "Yep, it's the truth. Me and Celeste planned out the murder of Leon and someone else! Don't worry about it though, I would had saved you guys at the last second, I'm not heartless! I just had to lie about that to make sure you all voted for the correct person." Sayaka stopped, as well as everyone else.

Chi then burst into tears, evident by his voice, which had been composed of only sadness. "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? Why would you assist her in killing two people, and then having another one be executed!" I heard a little thud on the ground, followed by a small sigh.

"Because, I think I've figured out something. The mastermind behind this game. I know who it is." All of our attention was on Junko, including Sayaka, despite her sadness, and looming execution. "The mastermind of this killing game, is none other than..." She paused and closed her eyes. "Makoto Naegi, aka the Ultimate Luck."

Everyone turned to look at me, a pained Sayaka looked at me. "Is that true?" Before I could refute her claims however...

"It's execution time!"

A claw got her by the neck, and dragged her off, the force of it pushing me down onto the ground, with my hand just reached out to nothing. I ran after her, although the room she was dragged though closed before I could reach her. On my left, the room for executions lit up once again and everyone was pretty awkward with me. I managed to get up and walk there myself this time.

Then we saw the Ultimate Pop Sensation on stage, performing with loads of cameras and a roaring audience, wearing a pink frilly outfit, just like how she was in her days when she was a part of the band. Normally this would be amazing, getting to see, not just one of the greatest musicians around, but someone I could consider a friend doing what she loved. However, it's obvious that this isn't the case, as everything has Monokuma's disgusting image, the audience, the cameras, the lights, were all tainted by this monster. On the screen, something popped up.

Dance to the Beating! Execution of Sayaka Maizono the Ultimate Pop Sensation.

Suddenly, a meter appeared, with a bar and a red line around 80% near the top. It suddenly went down, and she understood what she needed to do. She then began to sing, which managed to keep it steady, although slowly falling still. She didn't realize this until her head turned. Then she performed a simple dance routine. This in fact, managed to make it go up! Maybe there's still a chance she'll be OK! However, Monokuma had other plans, he booed the girl, and pressed a button, which meant that the meter went down quicker. Sayaka realized this and picked up the pace, keeping herself still alive, which was antagonizing for the bear, who turned up the pressure for her. She went faster as Monokuma turned up the heat and soon she was sweating and crying, unable to continue. Then it happened, she tripped. Her score plummeted down to the rock bottom, causing two giant steel bars to crush her, killing her instantly.

The tears are starting back up again. I got a little pull, which came from a saddened Chi. I followed him into the room and I just walked back to the elevator, which wouldn't open, despite me pressing the button.

As I repeatedly pushed the button, I heard a voice. "So then, how is the wimp the Mastermind?" That cold voice could only be one person. Byakuya.

I then heard Junko stretch, strange thing to do after someone died. "Well, it's simple really. First of all, he's been leading the trials, right? Despite being one of the last ones to find the body, he's always the one doing the most work. You wouldn't take him for the smartest one here, his talent or personality doesn't scream that anyway, so there's a high chance Monokuma is helping him out. Secondly, and this ties into my first point, he got free Monocoins right? If Monokuma's willing to give him them, what isn't he willing to give-?"

"H-Hold on... Did that stupid bear give him the coins?" Toko was a quiet interruption, but her voice had some bite to it, sounding scary to be honest.

I doubt Monokuma will speak up too much about this. "Well, I can't say for certain, but if you ask him, I'm sure he'll tell you the truth." Nevermind.

Junko then sighed a sigh of relief. "Taking that as a yes. He won't be able to lie for much longer either. The last thing is his talent. First of all, how does the Ultimate Luck get stuck in a killing game, unless it means that he's going to survive and he just wants us to suffer, also a lottery, seriously, I've never heard a dumber backstory ever. Also, one more thing, I think he knows more about this than everyone else and isn't telling us." She gave a peace sign after finishing her sentence, and the lift opened, and I went straight inside it.

Everyone else came in, although they clearly weren't comfortable with it. Honestly, I can understand why, but I just, don't care right now. The elevator stopped and I got out first, heading right for my room and locking it behind me.

I had plans today... But now, what's the point. I'll never see Sayaka again. She was my first friend here, before Chi, and she's taken by some bullshit...

It's not fair. She died because she swapped with Chi. Chi was also going to die. It feels like this was a personal attack on me, is Junko really that confident that I'm the mastermind?

I can't even control myself anymore. The tears refuse to stop. Nobody even likes me anymore, so I might as well stay here. Better that way, at least they can have some time to adjust to Sayaka's death. I'm going to need a while.

Sayaka, I know you played with my emotions and all, but you were just scared. Trapped in a situation that no one should be in, which is apparently my fault... Sayaka, thanks for treating me like a friend, and helping me out with Chi. I'll never forget you...

Day 9/14 and Deadly Life 3 Finished... 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm actually on Makoto's side here, the fact that Sayaka got executed is bull, which in reality was me misremembering the rules a bit but you don't need to know that! Anyway, I like Sayaka a lot, she has a simple role and executes it perfectly, plus I really like her character and her motivations were understandable imo. I don't know, she's simple, but I like her a lot. This trial did go differently to how it was first planned, but you win some and you lose some. Anyway, hope you enjoyed and see ya!


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